Summary The paper discusses the link between financing R&D and tangible investment, firm size, and corporate governance. Mechanisms of corporate governance, such as the presence of large shareholders or stakeholders, may reduce agency and specificity problems and improve access to external...

Over the last few years, more and more attention has been devoted to microfinance by academics and practitioners interested in development issues. This paper is part of this trend, as it tries to identify to what extent the corporate governance framework can be applied to microfinance...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze which key financial factors are appropriate for measuring a credit rating score for family firms. In the recent literature, there exists a vast number of studies which evaluates performance differences between family and non-family firms (NFF)....

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between women in the board of directors, firm performance and corporate decisions as well as the risk of the firm, debt level, and research and development (R&D). Design/methodology/approach This study investigates a sample of...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the trading patterns of corporate insiders, both managing and non-managing, around the announcement dates of securities class action lawsuits and related legal settlements. Design/methodology/approach The authors use market model event study...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present novel empirical findings regarding the shareholder-management agency problem. Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents new evidence regarding the shareholder-management agency problem. It expands the set of factors that may cause...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review recent research on the structure of equity ownership and its impact on firm value. In doing so, the paper outlines the main issues, surveys the more recent work, and highlights the most promising developments on this topic....

Purpose – What is the role of analysts in reducing agency problems and information asymmetry between stockholders and managers? The purpose of this paper is to confirm the analyst’s role by examining his or her influence on CEO compensation structure. Design/methodology/approach – The...

Most major decisions at the World Bank are made by its Board of Executive Directors. While some countries enjoy the opportunity to serve on this powerful body, most countries rarely, if ever, get that chance. This gives rise to the question: Does board membership lead to higher funding from the...

Summary This paper focuses on the question whether West German firms have experienced an increase in their financial risk position with due implications for the macroeconomy. The investigation is based on a special evaluation of the balance sheet statistics by the Deutsche Bundesbank broken down...