Liberal and critical theorists alike claim that the world political economy is becoming globalized. If they are right, leading corporations should gradually be losing their national characters and converging in their fundamental strategies and operations. Multinational corporations (MNCs) should...

This paper introduces a simple procedure to construct ownership maps in Stata, uses a new method to map the development of the global network of multinational business groups over time and investigates the development of core components of the network. Based on Bureau van Dijk's ORBIS database,...

We study the role of pyramidal ownership structures in the creation of new firms. Our results suggest that pyramids arise because they provide a financing advantage in setting up new firms when the pledgeability of cash flows to outside financiers is limited. Parent companies supply inside funds...

Aim: A global rise in inflation has sparked a renewed interest in the matter of cash holding decisions in firms. Increasing inflation makes for different cash holding practices, but the effect of cash holdings on firm performance remains unclear. This study aims to determine what the effect of...

This paper studies the ways in which the geographic locations of a firm's foreign operations affect the appointment and effectiveness of foreign directors. Using country-level data on firm internationalization and board foreignness, we find that firms with more foreign subsidiaries in a region...

Privatization is often viewed as a necessary condition for improved corporate performance. We use a 1992-98 panel of the population of Czech industrial firms to assess the effect of mass privatization on corporate performance. Using numerous performance indicators, we find that foreign owners...

This short technical report provides an empirical analysis of the level of institutional block ownership overall, and of foreign block ownership, at a broad set of publicly traded corporations. Disclosed institutional blockholders of every company in the Standard & Poor's 500 index are analyzed,...