This paper investigates the effect of superstar CEOs on their competitors. Exploiting shocks to CEO status due to prestigious media awards, we document a significant positive stock market performance of competitors of superstar CEOs subsequent to the award. The effect is more pronounced for...

The aim of this paper is to investigate the determinants of innovation activities and their impact on firm performance. For the empirical analysis of the study we employ Business Environment Enterprise Performance Surveys (BEEPS) firm-level data conducted by the World Bank and the European Bank...

Monitoring by institutional investors can act as an important mechanism to promote firm innovation. By investigating Chinese listed firms' patenting between 2002 and 2011, we find that the presence of institutional investors enhances firm innovation. Consistent with the monitoring view, we...

Innovative companies are a major driver of the global economy. The typical major owner is an institutional investor. In recent years the stakes of institutional owners have increased, which should increase the role of institutional investors. Institutional investors, however, differ. Traditional...

We find evidence that chief executive officers' (CEOs') hobby of flying airplanes is associated with significantly better innovation outcomes, measured by patents and citations, greater innovation effectiveness, and more diverse and original patents. We rule out alternative explanations, leading...

This research aims at investigating the impact of innovation activities and its determinants on firm performance. The World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) have conducted Business Environment Enterprise Performance Surveys (BEEPS) firm-level data in...

This paper investigates whether the proximity between mutual funds and their investments could explain corporate innovation. I find that mutual funds investing in local firms increase firms' R&D expenditure and productivity. More importantly, firms with greater local ownership produce more...

Using data on birthplaces of 2,065 CEOs and a local measure of cultural individualism based on the westward expansion in American history, I find a positive relation between CEO cultural individualism and corporate innovation. Firms with individualistic CEOs file more patents and receive more...