In this paper, we show that ownership structures vary considerably across the largest European economies, and that ownership has a significant impact on firm performance. We demonstrate that ownership structures in Europe are not necessarily consistent with value maximisation principles....

This paper examines the changes in strategy and structure of the largest 250 non-financial firms in both Britain and Germany in the late 1990s. To this end, the results of a questionnaire survey are presented which were sent to the chief executives of those companies. What came through from the...

This paper investigates the effect of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) on the relation between institutional ownership (IO) and firm innovation. We find that US firms investing in innovation attract more institutional capital post-SOX. Prior literature identifies two SOX effects on the average US...

We examine the effect of IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) on the type of performance measures firms use to evaluate and reward their managers. We show that post-IFRS firms decrease the weight of Earnings-per-Share (EPS)-based performance measures in CEO pay contracts. We argue...

This paper shows that institutional sell-side herding increased bid–ask spreads and liquidity risk during the 2007–8 financial crisis. Such an impact on liquidity is most pronounced in firms with large numbers of institutions that sold the same stocks, that is, have correlated trades. For...

This paper examines the investment preferences of foreign institutional investors investing in the U.S. market. We analyse both firm and country-level determinants that influence the foreign institutional investors' allocation choices. At the country level, we find that the governance quality in...