Standard economic models assume that many small investors own firms. This is so in most large U.S. firms, but wealthy individuals or families generally hold controlling blocks in smaller U.S. firms and in all firms in most other countries. Given this, the lack of theoretical and empirical work on tightly held firms is surprising. What corporate governance problems arise in tightly held firms? How do these differ from corporate governance problems in widely held firms? How do control blocks arise and how are they maintained? How does concentrated ownership affect economic growth? How should we regulate tightly held firms? Drawing together leading scholars from law, economics, and finance, this volume examines the economic and legal issues of concentrated ownership and their impact on a shifting global economy.
The relationship between ownership structure and firm performance has been studied extensively in corporate finance and corporate governance literature. Nevertheless, the mediation (path) analysis to examine the issue can be adopted as a new approach to explain why and how ownership structure is related to firm performance and vice versa. This approach calls for full recognition of the roles of agency costs and corporate risk-taking as essential mediating variables in the bi-directional and mediated relationship between ownership structure and firm performance. Based on the agency theory, corporate risk management theory and accounting for the dynamic endogeneity in the ownership–performance relationship, this book develops two-mediator mediation models, including recursive and non-recursive mediation models, to investigate the ownership structure–firm performance relationship. It is demonstrated that agency costs and corporate risk-taking are the ‘missing links’ in the ownership structure–firm performance relationship. Hence, this book brings into attention the mediation and dynamic approach to this issue and enhances the knowledge of the mechanisms for improving firm’s financial performance. This book will be of interest to corporate finance, management and economics researchers and policy makers. Post-graduate research students in corporate governance and corporate finance will also find this book beneficial to the application of econometrics into multi-dimensional and complex issues of the firm, including ownership structure, agency problems, corporate risk management and financial performance.
This book provides empirical insights into the relationship between capital and equity-ownership structure of Indian manufacturing companies and their financial performance. It discusses and analyses the basic theories and concepts associated with capital structure, debt financing, levered and unlevered firms, the various forms of ownership, agency problem and its kind and the exploitation of minority owners by the large and largest owners. The study employs a set of the most reliable and suitable econometric estimation techniques to draw meaningful inferences on the Indian manufacturing sector. The novelty of this book lies in three particular aspects: the depth and dimension with which the topic is addressed; the robust empirical evidence that it has produced and the simple and intelligible approach with which it is authored. It communicates the crucial relevance of corporate capital structure and equity-ownership to the moderation of agency relationship and shaping the internal governance mechanism, which ultimately results in increased or decreased operational efficiency and financial performance. It will enable readers to understand whether an increased amount of debt capital would bring about positive results for firms or create an extra burden on the management of their finances, preventing them from taking productive investment decisions due to the threat of liquidation. The book will find an audience among advanced students, scholars and researchers who are interested in understanding the corporate finance practices and governance mechanism of Indian organizations.
This book begins by analysing the various corporate governance mechanisms explored in the extant literature and determining their effectiveness in enhancing the firm value using multivariate analysis. The findings are of global relevance as the corporate governance regulations of most countries focus on independent directors as the mainstay of good governance. The empirical evidence from the first objective of this study corroborates the claim that independent directors do not strengthen the firms’ governance quality. The book is one of the few works to have analysed the possible reasons behind the ineffectiveness of the independent directors. Also, in view of the famous concept of the bundle of governance mechanisms, it might be possible that the independent directors strengthen the firms’ governance quality indirectly by strengthening other governance mechanisms. This aspect too has little precedence. This study adopts a novel moderation and mediation approach to analyse the monitoring behaviour of independent directors in relation to other governance mechanisms. The work is a must read for corporate players as well as researchers and scholars studying this discipline.
The behavior of managers-such as the rewards they obtain for poor performance, the role of boards of directors in monitoring managers, and the regulatory framework covering the corporate governance mechanisms that are put in place to ensure managers' accountability to shareholder and other stakeholders-has been the subject of extensive media and policy scrutiny in light of the financial crisis of the early 2000s. However, corporate governance covers a much broader set of issues, which requires detailed assessment as a central issue of concern to business and society. Critiques of traditional governance research based on agency theory have noted its "under-contextualized" nature and its inability to compare accurately and explain the diversity of corporate governance arrangements across different institutional contexts. The Oxford Handbook of Corporate Governance aims at closing these theoretical and empirical gaps. It considers corporate governance issues at multiple levels of analysis-the individual manager, firms, institutions, industries, and nations-and presents international evidence to reflect the wide variety of perspectives. In analyzing the effects of corporate governance on performance, a variety of indicators are considered, such as accounting profit, economic profit, productivity growth, market share, proxies for environmental and social performance, such as diversity and other aspects of corporate social responsibility, and of course, share price effects. In addition to providing a high level review and analysis of the existing literature, each chapter develops an agenda for further research on a specific aspect of corporate governance. This Handbook constitutes the definitive source of academic research on corporate governance, synthesizing studies from economics, strategy, international business, organizational behavior, entrepreneurship, business ethics, accounting, finance, and law.
Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, this book examines whether qualified foreign institutional investors (QFIIs), through their shareholder activism, have a meaningful positive impact on the corporate governance of firms listed on the mainland Chinese stock market. Capital flows into and out of China are still subject to tight controls, and the QFII scheme is one important avenue through which QFIIs can become invested in the Chinese stock market. This book is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in learning about ways to invest in one of the world’s largest economies. Wang discusses in depth what specific opportunities, challenges and restrictions to expect in the process, and how investing in China differs from investing in countries with a more open capital account.
The Asian economic landscape is dominated by various types of business group. Asian Business Groups provides a comprehensive review and introduction to the different types of business group. The origins and founding context of groups from particular national settings form the basic structure of the book. Emphasis is given to both the similarities and differences in group governance and performance and the implications for Asian international competitiveness are addressed. - Multidisciplinary framework that integrates managerial, sociological, and economic perspectives on business groups and permits analysis of both their positive and negative aspects - Comprehensive survey of empirical findings on the financial and market performance - Sensitivity to the changing historical context and major events that have shaped business group development and dynamics
