Overview
Aims and objectives
Considerable concern has been expressed recently over slow growth, lagging productivity, and the loss of markets to foreign competition in Europe. One cause given is the quality of management decisions in particular with respect to investments in capital equipment, research and development, and mergers. This failing has been attributed to agency conflicts between owners and managers, which in turn are related to corporate governance structures. The project is examining these issues. The methodology has included comparative institutional analysis of corporate governance systems in Europe (building on work carried out previously under the executive pay and performance project), and the use of micro-econometric techniques to analyse the determinants of the tenure of top executives and executive pay levels. Work has continued on the influences on merger activity and its success.
Results and dissemination
In 2008 work by Andy Cosh and Alan Hughes examining the impact of Ajit Singh’s seminal book Takeovers, (published in 1971), was published. Cosh, Hughes and Guest also contributed a chapter on takeovers and governance to the Festschrift to honour Dennis Mueller. Paul Guest has in addition published a number of papers examining the determinants of board size and its consequence for firm value; and the impact of corporate acquisitions on executive pay. Finally, Hughes and Desyllas have published articles on the links between innovation and corporate acquisition of public and private businesses.
Principal investigators
Andy Cosh
Alan Hughes
Paul Guest
Research associates
Ajit Singh, Faculty of Economics
Panos Desyllas, Manchester Business School
Dennis Mueller, University of Vienna
Klaus Gugler, University of Vienna
Burcin Yurtoglu, University of Vienna
Hiroyuki Odagiri, University of Tokyo
Project status
Completed
Project dates
1999-2009
Funding
ESRC
Output
Working papers and mimeos
Bullock, A and Milner, I. (2003) ‘Data Scoping: Databases with Regional Information on Sector and Size’ MAPSME project, mimeo, CBR.
Cosh, A., Guest, P. and Hughes, A. (2001) Managerial discretion and takeover performancer, Centre for Business Research Working Paper No. 216.
Cosh, A.D and Hughes, A. (2008), ‘Takeovers after Takeovers’, Centre for Business Research working Paper 363, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
Glen J., Lee K., Singh, A. (2002) ‘Corporate profitability and the dynamics of competition in emerging markets: a time series analysis’, Centre for Business Research Working Paper No. 248.
Guest, P (2006) Do Cross-Border Acquisitions cause Convergence in Executive Compensation? Evidence from U.K. Acquisitions of U.S. Targets.
Guest, P and Sutherland, D (2006) Has China’s ‘National Team’ Industrial Policy been a Success? An Examination of the National Teams Financial Performance using Aggregate and Firm Level Data.
Gugler, K. and Yurtoglu, B. (2001) Corporate Governance and Dividend Pay-out Policy in Germany. WP University of Vienna.
Hughes, A. and Lee J. (2006) “What’s in a name and when does it matter? The hot and cold market impacts on underpricing of certification, reputation and conflicts of interest in venture capital backed Korean IPOs “, CBR Working Paper No 336.
Izurieta, A. and A. Singh. (2008) ‘Does Fast Growth in China and India Harm U.S. Workers? Insights from Simulation Evidence’, Cambridge CBR Working Paper No. 378, December 2008.
Mueller, D, Gugler, K and Yurtoglu, B (1998) Rates of return on investment: a cross national comparison, Centre for Business Research Working Paper No. 108.
Mueller, D., Gugler, K. and Yurtoglu, B. (2001) Tobin’s q, Marqinal q, Corporate Governance, Capital Market Discipline and the Returns on Investment. WP University of Vienna.
Singh, A (2002) ‘Capital account liberalization, free long-term capital flows, financial crises and economic development, Centre for Business Research Working Paper No. 245.
Singh, A (2002) ‘Competition and competition policy in emerging markets: international and developmental dimension’, Centre for Business Research Working Paper No. 246.
Singh, A (2002) ‘Competition, corporate governance and selection in emerging markets’, Centre for Business Research Working Paper No 247.
Singh, A (2003) ‘Corporate governance, corporate finance and stock markets in emerging countries’, CBR Working Paper No 258.
Singh, A. (2008) ‘Better to be Rough and Relevant than to be Precise and Irrelevant. Reddaway’s Legacy to Economics’, CBR Working Paper No. 379, December.
Singh, A. (2008) ‘Stock markets in low and middle income countries’ CBR Working Paper No. 377.
Singh, A. (2008) ‘The Past, Present and Future of Industrial Policy in India: Adapting to the Changing Domestic and International Environment’, Cambridge CBR Working Paper No. 376, December.
Singh, A., Weisse, B. and Singh, A. (2002) ‘Corporate governance, competition, the new international financial architecture and large corporations in emerging markets’, Centre for Business Research Working Paper No 250.
Journal articles
Arestis, P. and Singh, A. (2010), ‘Globalisation, institutional transformation and equity’, Cambridge Journal of Economics, Vol. 34, No. 2 (forthcoming).
Conn, R.L., Cosh, A.D., Guest, P.M. and Hughes, A. (2005), ‘The Impact on U.K. Acquirers of Domestic, Cross-border, Public and Private Acquisitions’, Journal of Business Finance and Accounting, Vol. 32, Nos 5+6, June/July 2005.
Desyllas, P. and Hughes, A. (2009) ‘The Revealed Preferences of High Technology Acquirers: An Analysis of the Innovation Characteristics of Their Targets’ The Cambridge Journal of Economics, (forthcoming).
Guest, P., Cosh, A. and Hughes, A (2006) ‘Board Share-Ownership and Takeover Performance’, Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, April.
Guest, P.M. (2009) ‘Board Structure and Executive Pay: Evidence from the UK’ Cambridge Journal of Economics, forthcoming.
Guest, P.M. (2009) ‘The Impact of Board Size on Firm Value: Evidence from the UK’ European Journal of Finance 15(4): 385-404.
Guest, P.M. (2009) ‘The Impact of Mergers and Acquisitions on Executive Pay in the United Kingdom’ Economica. 76: 149-175.
Guest, P.M. and Sutherland, D. (2009) ‘The Impact of Business Group Affiliation on Performance: Evidence from China’s “National Champions”‘. Cambridge Journal of Economics, forthcoming.
Guest, P.M., Bild, M. and Runsten, M. (2009) ‘The effect of takeovers on the fundamental value of acquirers’ Accounting and Business Research, forthcoming.
Gugler, VK., Mueller, DC, Yurtoglu, BB. And Zulehner, C. (2001) ‘Effekte von Fusionen ni Kontinentaleuropa und Deutschland’, in Proceedings of the 3rd Workshop on Corporate Governance in Europe, Viertjahrsheft Heft 2, 70 Jahrgang, pp 204-214.
Mueller, D. and Yurtoglu, B. (2000) ‘Country Legal Environments and Corporate Investment Performance’ German Economic Review (2000), 2, 187-220.
Mueller, D., Gugler, K., Yurtoglu, B. (2004) “Corporate Governance and Globalization,” Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 20(1), Spring 2004, pp. 129-56.
Mueller, D., Gugler, K., Yurtoglu, B. (2004) Marginal q, Tobin’s q, Cash Flow and Investment,” Southern Economic Journal, 70(3), January 2004, pp. 512-31.
Mueller, D., Gugler, K., Yurtoglu, B. (2004)“Corporate Governance and the Returns on Investment, ” Journal of Law and Economics, XLVII, October 2004, pp. 598-633.
Singh, A. (2009) ‘Better to Be Rough and Relevant than to be Precise and Irrelevant. Reddaway’s Legacy to Economics’. Cambridge Journal of Economics, Volume 33 No. 3, May 2009, pp 363-380.
Singh, A. and F. Wilkinson. (2009) ‘Introduction to the Reddaway symposium’, Cambridge Journal of Economics, Volume 33 No. 3, May 2009, pp 357-362.
Yurtoglu, B. (2000) ‘Ownership, Control and Performance of Turkish Listed Firms’ Empirica.
Books
Proceedings of the 3rd Workshop on Corporate Governance in Europe – special issue, Vierteljahrsheft 2, 70. Jahrgang 2001, Deutsches Institut Fur Wirtschaftsforshung.
Book chapters
Cosh A. and Hughes A. (2008) ‘Takeovers after Takeovers’, in Arestis, P and Eatwell, J (eds) Issues in Finance and Industry – Essays in Honour of Ajit Singh, Palgrave Macmillan, March.
Cosh A., Guest P. and Hughes A. (2008) ‘UK corporate governance and takeover performance’, in K. Gugler and B. Yurtoglu (eds) The Economics of Corporate Governance and Mergers (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar). Deakin S and Singh A (2009) ‘The stock market, the market for corporate control and the theory of the firm: legal and economic perspectives and implications for public policy’, in P.-O. Bjuggren and D. Mueller (eds.), The Modern Firm, Corporate Governance and Investments (Cheltenham: Elgar), forthcoming.
Fagernäs, S., Sarkar, P. and Singh, A. (2008) ‘Legal origin, shareholder protection and the stock market: new challenges from time series analysis’, in K. Gugler and B. Yurtoglu (eds) The Economics of Corporate Governance and Mergers, (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar).
Singh, A. (2009) ‘Historical Examination of the Golden Age of Full Employment in Western Europe’, in , P. Arestis and J. McCombie (eds). Missing Links in the Unemployment Relationship, Palgrave MacMillan, UK, pp. 51-71.
Yurtoglu, B. (2000) ‘Ownership Structure of Turkish Listed Firms’ISE Finance Award Series (2000) Vol. I, 55-84, Istanbul: Istanbul Stock Exchange.
Yurtoglu, B. (2001) ‘Corporate Governance in Turkey’, in K.Gugler (ed.) Corporate Governance and Economic Performance (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Conference/Workshop papers
Conn, R.L., Cosh, A.D., Guest, P.M. and Hughes, A. (2006), ‘Governance and Performance: The Case of Takeovers’, CBR Summit: Innovation and Governance, 29 March 2006, Cambridge, UK.
Cosh, A.D., Guest, P.M. and Hughes, A. (2005), ‘Board Shareownership and Takeover Performance’, Journal of Business Finance and Accounting: Capital Markets Conference 2005, Bowness-on-Windermere 26 May 2005.
Guest, P (2005) The paper ‘Do Cross-Border Acquisitions cause Convergence in Executive Compensation? Evidence from U.K. Acquisitions of U.S. Targets’ was presented at a seminar at the University of Durham in December 2005.
Guest, P (2006) The paper ‘Do Cross-Border Acquisitions cause Convergence in Executive Compensation? Evidence from U.K. Acquisitions of U.S. Targets’ was presented at the European Financial Management Association in Madrid (June 2006) and the China International Conference in Finance in Xian (July 2006).
Guest, P (2006) The paper ‘Has China’s ‘National Team’ Industrial Policy been a Success? An Examination of the National Teams Financial Performance using Aggregate and Firm Level Data’ (With Dylan Sutherland) was presented at a seminar in May 2006 at the Department of Economics, Trinity College, Dublin.
Guest, P (2006) The paper ‘Has China’s ‘National Team’ Industrial Policy been a Success? An Examination of the National Teams Financial Performance using Aggregate and Firm Level Data’ (With Dylan Sutherland) was presented at the European Network on Industrial Policy (EUNIP) 9th International Conference, in Limerick (June 2006).
Hughes, A. (2005), ‘Hubris, Learning and Persistent Acquisition’, Tjalling C Koopmans Workshop Series: Policy Issues in Mergers, Acquisitions and Alliances at Utrecht University 9 April 2005.
Hughes, A. (with A.D. Cosh and P.M. Guest) (2005), ‘Managerial Discretion and Takeover Performance’, 65th Annual Academy of Management Conference, 9 August 2005, Hawaii, USA.
Singh, A. gave a public lecture on an optimistic view of the global crisis at a meeting organised by Centre for Trade and Development (CENTAD), New Delhi. 24 July 2009. Leading Indian economists were official discussers of my presentation.
Singh, A. introduced a discussion on the credit crunch and financial globalization at a special gathering of economists at the RIS Institute in New Delhi, 24 December 2008.
Singh, A. made the following presentations in 2008-9: American Economic Association meetings in New Orleans, at the Law Faculty at Punjab University, at New School for Social Research in New York, and the Department of Economic Affairs at the United Nations in New York. He also made a presentation to Link Party members at the Bundestag at Berlin on Hostile Takeovers.
Singh, A. participated in a panel discussion on financial globalization at a conference organized by the Development Studies Committee, Cambridge, 9 February 2009.
Singh, A. presented a joint paper with Simon Deakin and Prabirjit Sarkar on law finance and development at the Max Fry Conference at the University of Birmingham, 15 May 2009.
Singh, A. presented a paper on China, India and the World Economy at the Institute of Social Studies in the Hague to mark the inauguration of Professor Rolph van der Hoeven, 18 September 2008.
Singh, A. presented a paper on fast growth in India and China: a simulation analysis indicating labour conflict over the distribution of the world’s natural resources, at the American Economic Association meetings at San Francisco, 5 January 2009.
Singh, A. presented a paper on how the Asian countries can best protect themselves from the current financial crisis, at a meeting of the Cambridge University Asian, Law and Business Association, 28 February 2009.
Singh, A. presented a paper on the financial crisis and the Indian response as a special guest speaker at the Centre for Trade and Development (CENTAD), New Delhi, 17 December 2008.
Singh, A. presented a paper, “The Global Economic and Financial Crisis: an Optimistic View”, at a high level conference held at the Judge Business School, 26 June 2009.
Singh, A. presented a seminar on China, India and the World economy at Professor Stiglitz’s workshop at the University of Manchester, 22 June 2009.
Singh, A. reported on the Cambridge project on law, finance and development at a special workshop organised by Swedish economists at Stockholm to discuss the Cambridge research, 11 May 2009.
News
July 2008: Workshop in Honour of Professor Dennis C. Mueller