This paper investigates the relative and incremental information content of KPMG's recently developed metric for shareholder value creation: earnings less risk-free interest charge (ERIC). We assess if ERIC has a better ability to predict stock returns than earnings, cash flow from operations...

In Closer Look, we highlight significant “holes” in our knowledge of corporate governance. These are central issues where insufficient or inadequate study has left us unable to answer basic questions, and where key assumptions relied upon by experts have not been verified or validated. While...

Say on Pay legislations have become increasingly common over the past few decades, in tandem with more publicity around the compensation that is paid to executives/management of public companies. This publicity has, in turn, been driven largely by disclosure requirements imposed by the...

A number of popular business magazines have recently run cover stories describing the “return of leverage.” Although full of interesting details about individual leveraged deals and the investment bankers who put them together, they are largely silent on several issues of economic...

Drawing on agency theory and transaction cost analysis, this study investigates the impact of refranchising and buybacks of downstream retail units by franchising firms on shareholder value (i.e., stock returns). It further evaluates the contingency role of firm and industry factors in shaping...

The spectacular rise of ESG usage in investment decision-making made public companies’ environmental and social attitudes critical more than ever as their shares are sold and bought in stock exchanges. Even though the enlightened shareholder value approach (ESV) by Section 172 (S172) of the...

This study explores the behavior of underperforming chief executive officers (CEOs) on merger frequency and the effect on acquirers’ shareholder wealth of merger bids in U.S. industrial firms from 1994 to 2018. We find that underperforming CEOs are more likely to make acquisitions, especially...

Value Based Management (VBM) has become a common tool for ex ante and ex post evaluation of corporate strategies and projects from the perspective of shareholder value maximization (SVM). VBM-frameworks are designed to support investment and divestment decisions, ex post evaluation of management...

The Indian corporate landscape is witnessing a sharp increase in the number of cases revolving around shareholder activism wherein activist investors are no longer content to merely being passive owners and are exercising their will by virtue of their voting rights in general meetings. This...

Using a sample of publicly listed firms from 2004 to 2018 in China, we find that the shareholder interlock directors, who jointly hold board positions both in the listed firm and their shareholding firms, can have a positive influence on the performance and governance of the listed firm. Our...

We investigate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) and firm value effects of more than 7,000 shareholder proposals submitted between 2006–2020. Using propensity score matching and a difference-in-differences setting, the results indicate that firms that receive an ESG- or...

Share buybacks have become a popular way for companies to return capital to shareholders. However, there is an ongoing debate regarding the impact of share buybacks on the performance and shareholder value. This paper starts by examining the literature on share buybacks and aims at testing the...

In an article forthcoming in the Journal of Corporate Law, Systematic Stewardship with Tradeoffs, Profs. Kahan and Rock take issue with the portfolio approach that I offered in Systematic Stewardship (47 J. Corp. L. 627 (2022)) on the grounds that corporate law requires a “single firm focus”...

During the recent times, the social nature of a corporation has become a heavily debated topic. Corporations gained a predominant position in the society due to the advent of the era of consumerism and digitalization. Given the overarching status that corporations hold in the society, it became...

This paper studies the impact of a change in promoter shareholding on small-cap-value stocks. NIFTY Small Cap 250 index stocks within the top 20th percentile of the book-to-market (B/M) ratio of the same universe have been considered for this study. The paper uses regression analysis for...

When corporations inflict injuries in the course of business, shareholders wielding ESG principles can, and now sometimes do, intervene to correct the matter. In the emerging fact pattern, corporate social accountability comes out of its historic collectivized frame to become an internal subject...

Important capital market, regulatory and technological developments have created greater investor appetite and capacity for engagement with public companies. This development is highlighted by investors’ current efforts to engage with companies in various markets on material environmental,...

This paper examines the effects of economic shocks originating from China’s Five-Year Plans on firms’ shareholders and stakeholders in the U.S. Using establishment-level data, we show that the shocks were not preceded by low production or employment, nor were they anticipated by the U.S....

This paper examines the long-term value implications of supply chain ESG performance. We find that firms with fewer supply chain ESG incidents exhibit higher future stock returns and accounting performance. We also find that robust supply chain ESG creates value by (i) enhancing supply chain...

The SEC’s proposed climate disclosure rule has generated substantial controversy. Among the concerns raised by commentators is that the rule is unnecessary because investors can obtain sufficient climate-related disclosure through private ordering. We examine one mechanism for private ordering...

Investments in publicly-listed U.S. stocks enhanced shareholder wealth by more than $55.1 trillion in aggregate during the 1926 to 2022 period, even while investments in the majority (58.6%) of the 28,114 individual stocks led to reduced rather than increased shareholder wealth. The degree to...

The shareholders are the owners of the corporation. The corporation has a separate legal existence independent of the shareholder-owners and a shareholder is not liable to the corporation or its creditors with respect to the shares except to pay the consideration for which the shares were...

This study explores the investment behavior of underperforming chief executive officers (CEOs) on merger frequency and the effect on acquirers’ shareholder wealth of merger bids in U.S. industrial firms. We find that underperforming CEOs are more likely to make acquisitions, especially...

We present evidence that share repurchases reduce investment inefficiencies related to short-term investors. Using U.S. data from 1988 to 2018, we first document that stock buybacks are associated with lower long-term investments. However, contrary to popular perception that buybacks sacrifice...

This paper examines major forces that have decoupled economic and business prosperity from social prosperity and explores how recoupling can be promoted. Economists have specified well-known conditions under which free market enterprise with shareholder value maximization is efficient. These...