Committing financial fraud is a serious breach of business ethics. However, there are few large scale studies of financial fraud that involve ethical considerations. In this study, we investigate the pervasive financial scandals, which by the end of 2012 involved more than a third of the...

We examine whether social media criticisms posted by small investors can predict subsequent firm acquisition decisions. Specifically, we use textual analysis to examine the Internet stock message board postings of 303 value-reducing acquisition attempts. Our empirical evidence shows that small...

We model that firms endogenize the extent of information asymmetry by choosing the optimal level of direct communications with capital markets. We find that leaner firms with less slack (lower cash balance and higher long-term leverage) tend to have greater formal communications. We show that...

We investigate the impact of social capital on three facets of foreign high-tech companies' investment in China: where to invest, which ownership structure to implement, and how much to invest in R&D. We find local social capital in China is an important factor in these investment decisions....

We investigate the role of social capital and cultural biases in investment by foreign high-tech firms in China. We find social capital of provinces in the host country, social capital of the foreign company's home country, and the cultural difference between the two countries are important...

Investment by foreign firms in a host country is a good setting to study the two concepts in social psychology: cultural biases among foreign companies, and social capital among regions in the host country. We choose to investigate investment by foreign high tech firms in China. We find both...

Financing of and investing in Ramp;D are prone to risks of appropriation by competitors, information asymmetry, and agency problems. Although legal protection of intellectual property (IP) rights at the national level is necessary to encourage investing in Ramp;D, we show that the effective...

Corporate finance for the entrepreneurial firm is fundamentally different from that of the traditional firm. The standard problems and solutions to both investment and financing are reformulated in this paper. The formulation is intended to capture two distinguishing features of entrepreneurial...

Governments are important financiers of private sector innovation. While these public funds can ease capital constraints and information asymmetries, they can also introduce political distortions. We empirically explore these issues for China, where a quarter of firms' R&D expenditures come from...