This paper examines the unification of non-voting preference shares into a one share one vote structure using a sample of all German dual-class companies from 1987 until 2003. We test several hypotheses with regard to the reasons for the abolition of preference shares.First, as the separation of...

In this study we analyze the evolution of ownership, control, and performance in German founding-family-owned firms over the last century. We begin by identifying German family-owned stock companies (Aktiengesellschaften) founded before World War I and still in existence in 2003 with sales...

This paper studies the short- and long-run announcement effects of declaring compliance with the German Corporate Governance Code (the Code). We examine a unique, hand-collected data set of 317 German listed firms from 2002-2005. First, we present evidence from an analysis of firms compliance...

We investigate the role of analyst following as a monitoring device reducing earnings management. In a large international sample, we fi nd that the more transparent the country, the stronger the reduction in earnings management activity associated with analyst following. More transparent...

State-owned (SO) enterprises are subject to more complex institutional pressures in host countries than private firms. These institutional pressures arise from a weak legitimacy of “state ownership” in some countries, which arises from a combination of ideological conflicts, perceived...

We investigate the role played by institutional development in the prevalence and performance of firms that are owned and/or managed by entrepreneurs or their families, while controlling for the potential effect of cultural norms. China provides a good research lab since it combines great...

In this study, we investigate the role played by a firm's ownership structure in earnings management, with reference to the Chinese capital market. We measure the impacts of both ownership concentration and different ownership types, specifically the difference between the state as blockholder...