This article examines the overall acceptance of the best practice provisions contained in the Dutch corporate governance code and identifies those that receive comparably less agreement among 150 Dutch listed companies in 2004. The findings indicate a high level of compliance with the Code....

We survey the evidence on the relationship between board and top management team attributes and firm performance in the Netherlands (sample of 94 listed firms). To this aim we develop hypotheses by using sources from the strategic management and the corporate governance literature. Dutch...

In this paper, the authors analyze the impact of profits on investment using data from the Dutch manufacturing sector in a simple Kaleckian investment model. Profits and capacity determine the level of investment. The empirical analysis of this 'nonmainstream' model confirms conclusions drawn in...

This paper provides evidence for the immediate or short-term responses to financial crises of US multinational firm (MNE) subsidiaries. Using a real options perspective, we hypothesize that financial crises change the relative value of ‘within-country’versus ‘across-country’ options for...

Summary Corporate governance regulations across the globe increasingly push for a model in which top management is supervised by an independent, vigilant and skilled board of directors. Academic research, however, produces ambiguous results as to the direct effects of such board characteristics...

We study an underrepresented area in the international business literature: the effect of the meta-environment on multinational enterprise (MNE) performance. A meta-environment is a symbiosis of all country environments where an MNE operates. This conceptualization of a firm's external context...

Many transition economies are characterised by a relatively rudimentary institutional framework. Weak legislative structures and the absence of effective market regulation and property right enforcement rules diminish the chance of mutually profitable business transactions and--more...

The Berle-Means problem - information and incentive asymmetries disrupting relations between knowledgeable managers and remote investors - has remained a durable issue engaging researchers since the 1930s. However, the Berle-Means paradigm - widely dispersed, helpless investors facing strong,...

This paper analyses the impact of share ownership, creditorship and networking by financial institutions on the performance of 94 Dutch non-financial firms in the period 1992-1996. We find a nonlinear relationship between firm performance and ownership by banks. Because of various defense...