This paper examines investment spending of Japanese firms around the "asset price bubble" in the late-1980s and makes three contributions to our understanding of how stock valuations affect investment. First, corporate investment responds significantly to nonfundamental components of stock...

We argue that the size and composition of corporate boards are determined by tradeoffs involving the information that directors bring to boards versus the coordination costs and free rider problems associated with their additions to boards. Our hypotheses lead to predictions that firm size and...

A question largely left unanswered in previous studies of firms’ use of HRM practices, and the consequences thereof, is why some firms adopt these practices while others do not. We examine empirically the determinants of firms’ demand for HRM pay, work and training practices with a special...

Firms have a choice: grow through internal investment, or grow through acquisition. While internal growth takes time, an acquisition provides cash flows immediately, as the acquirer benefits from the investments of previous owners. The opportunity to grow internally affects the price of an...

This paper investigates the capital structure and investment behaviour in Thailand in the early half of the 1990s. First, we examine the idea of 'pecking order' preferences for firms' fund raising in developing countries generally and in Thailand in particular. We consider unique features such...

We develop and test the hypothesis that private information incorporated into stock prices affects the structure of corporate boards. Stock price informativeness may be a complement to board monitoring, because the information revealed by prices can be used by directors to monitor management....

Using a unique data set on all industrial firms listed on Korea Stock Exchange and KOSDAQ stock market from 1991 to 2000, we find that cash ratios for chaebol firms are lower than for non-chaebol firms. Controlling for access to the bond market and financial services arms does not change this...

We examine the diversification patterns of almost all publicly listed non-financial companies in China during the 2001 to 2005 period. More than 70 percent of the firms in our sample are diversified. We document that patterns of diversification strongly depend on firms' political connections....

During a period where Japanese banks operated under a less restrictive regulatory environment, 1986-88, we find positive relationships between bank risk and ownership concentration. This empirical evidence reveals shareholder activism by the largest shareholders. During the periods immediately...

This study investigates the effects of controlling shareholders on corporate performance. The empirical results, based on a unique database of Thai firms, do not support the hypothesis that controlling shareholders expropriate corporate assets. In fact, the presence of controlling shareholders...