Sky Blog
Economist Albert O. Hirschman (1970) classically set out the two alternatives facing dissatisfied members of an organization: They can voice displeasure or exit for greener pastures. Hirschman’s model has long explained the tradeoff facing shareholders of a poorly governed firm: …
In recent years there has been a surge in research that explores the sources of variation in corporate tax avoidance. Following this stream of research, tax scholars have begun to acknowledge the potential effect of ownership patterns on firms’ tax …
Institutional investors are howling for US public companies to focus more on the long-term.[1] This is unsurprising. Long-term focused companies produce significantly better results over time, reporting far greater revenue growth with less volatility, far higher levels of economic …
Notwithstanding the attention corporate reputation gets as a concept, why it is valued, what it requires, and what is incompatible with a good reputation are given surprisingly short shrift. Institutional investors are increasingly pressuring companies to care about more than …
Institutional ownership of companies has grown to the point that institutions today own approximately 80 percent of the market value of U.S. stocks.[1] Recent academic research explores this rising ownership concentration and debates the growing importance of “passive” or “index” …
As stewardship by institutional investors is an integral part of an adequate system of corporate governance, the growing diffusion of stewardship codes can be seen as a principal reaction to institutional investors’ reticence in monitoring the companies they invest in. …
Over the past three decades, there has been tremendous change in the ownership of publicly-traded firms in the U.S. Consolidation in the asset management industry and the rise in mutual fund investing have led a small number of institutional investors …
A hot topic in corporate governance is the so-called short-termism of publicly held companies. In response to actual and anticipated pressure from activist hedge funds, companies are, some say, focusing too much on short-term gains by, for instance, shunning research …
Clemenceau was right.[1] Reforming a profession cannot be left to the professionals. A cascade of auditing scandals — in the U.K., the U.S., Europe, and South Africa — has convinced many that reform is necessary. The political reaction has …
Debate continues to rage among politicians, professors, senior lawyers, and members of the media over the regulation of hedge fund activism. The primary criticism is that, in the absence of merger and acquisition activity, such activism does not create value …
In recent years, large asset managers and other institutional investors have come to own increasingly large shares of firms that are competitors. For instance, BlackRock owns shares of both Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase. Such common ownership is prevalent …
Institutional shareholders’ role in corporate governance and their effect on firm value have been explored, both theoretically and empirically, mainly in the context of dispersed-ownership environments like the United States or the United Kingdom. In these common law countries, institutional …
While director independence has become a topic of global importance, the definition of independence and the role of independent directors remain unsettled, depending largely on ownership patterns, industry structure, and regulatory goals. The main agency problem in diffusely owned firms …
Effective and sustainable shareholder engagement is a cornerstone of the corporate governance model of listed companies, which is based on a system of checks and balances among boards, management, and stakeholders. Enhancing the involvement of shareholders in corporate governance is …
Auditors issue going concern opinions when they have substantial doubts about a client’s ability to continue as a going concern for one year beyond the financial statement date. Abundant anecdotal evidence shows that companies that received these opinions went through …
According to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) release establishing the Proxy Voting Rule, an investment adviser “is a fiduciary that owes each of its clients duties of care and loyalty with respect to all services undertaken on the client’s …
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is defined as “actions that appear to further some social good, beyond the interests of the firm and that which is required by law” (McWilliams and Siegel, 2001). According to this definition, CSR activities not only …
Hedge fund activists are technically just minority shareholders, yet they exert enormous influence, often forcing companies to undertake fundamental restructuring and substantially increase stock buybacks and dividends. For instance, Third Point Management and Trian Fund Management, holding only 2 percent …
While “The Accountable Capitalism Act” introduced on August 15 by Senator Elizabeth Warren contains several very worthwhile provisions, it is premised on the federalization of all public corporations with revenues in excess of $1 billion. Mandatory federal incorporation and the …
Public firms are increasingly connected through institutional investors’ stock ownership, largely due to individual investors who invest excess cash and retirement savings through financial institutions. Firms with institutional cross-ownership have institutional stockholders with significant stakes in other firms within the …