Corporate governance effectiveness along the entrepreneurial process of a family firm: the role of private equity

This paper was motivated by the increasing interest in the corporate governance debate on how effective structure and processes may influence entrepreneurial transitions. Along the entrepreneurial process, little research to date has investigated the exit in the context of entrepreneurial family firms. Previous literature has considered the exit mainly as a failure for entrepreneurial families, but when uncertainties arise this choice may enable ownership transitions, thus facilitating survival and long term strategies. Among the exit options, a private equity buyout may balance the family’s wealth protection and the firm’s future growth. However, which family specific characteristics and strategic needs may affect the exit option still remains a neglected topic. Drawing on corporate governance literature and recent research addressing entrepreneurship in family firms, this paper investigates, by a single case study, the bridging role of private equity buyout for going through entrepreneurial transitions. Findings suggest that a private equity buyout is a governance mechanism that may sustain an entrepreneurial transition by realigning family interests and goals. It may also allow the family commitment for improving organizational capabilities required by an entrepreneurial transition.     

不同市场能力下的“电商—平台—物流”在线销售系统的决策研究

近年来,随着互联网的快速发展,市场上衍生出了一些在线销售网站。考虑了一个包含电商卖家、电商平台和物流公司的在线销售系统模型,其中需求依赖于产品价格、平台和物流服务水平。研究了当物流、平台同时决策时,在线销售系统中电商卖家和平台、物流之间的不同市场能力结构问题。考虑了3种不同市场能力的分散决策模型:(1)物流-平台Stackelberg模型;(2)电商Stackelberg模型;(3)Nash模型。相关的均衡解和最优利润被得到。研究结果表明,在不同的市场能力结构下,当物流公司和平台同时决策时,即使他们的服务投入不相同,但最优收费相同。市场能力结构对在线销售成员和消费者有重要的影响。对电商而言,当市场能力较高时,会制定较低的零售价格,并获得最多的利润,同时能够提升消费者购买的积极性;当市场能力较低时,电商会制定较高的零售价格,并获得最少的利润。对平台和物流公司而言,当市场能力较高时,会制定比较高的收费,同时付出较少的努力,但并不能获得最高利润,同时会打击消费者的积极性;但是,当市场能力较低时,他们一定获得最少的利润。在Nash模型中,平台和物流公司会付出最大的努力,同时获得最大的利润,而整个在线销售系统的总利润也是最多。在物流-平台Stackelberg模型中,平台和物流公司付出的努力最少,而整个在线销售系统的总利润也最少。     

Success and failure in management buyouts

This paper outlines a model for examining the process of formulating a successful management buyout, taking the viewpoint of all concerned, viz., buyers, sellers, advisors, investors and employees. It arises out of the observation of, and involvement in, a number of buyout negotiations: some were completed but continue to falter; some were aborted; others are currently successful. The paper suggests that eventual success is a function of two main factors. The first is the probability of conflict, as defined by the buyout typology, and the second the decisions made, and not made, during negotiations. The latter includes such questions as, for the company: what to hive down: which management to involve; future customer relations; and for the deal: the setting of the price: the future role of investors; choosing advisors.     

具有线性交易成本的耐用性设备在线租赁策略分析

在设备寿命周期内,购买和使用结束后出售旧设备需要支付交易成本,交易成本与设备价格具有线性关系。分析显示:对于具有线性交易成本的耐用性设备在线租赁问题,如果不考虑在设备使用结束后出售旧设备的残值以降低成本,从租赁模式转换到购买模式的在线策略的转换时机,总是晚于考虑在设备使用结束后出售旧设备的在线策略;如果不考虑购买和使用后出售的交易成本,在线策略名义上的竞争比小于实际竞争比。     

针对企业虚假广告宣传的政府监管策略研究

虚假广告是指经营者利用广告虚构事实,造成消费者对其商品或服务的误解,从而获取利益的行为。本文考虑了政府、消费者在企业广告决策中的作用,建立两阶段模型,研究了企业利润最大化目标下政府监管力度、消费者负面口碑效应、产品生产成本等因素对广告策略选择的影响。基于企业在四类广告策略（不进行虚假广告、仅前期进行虚假广告、仅后期进行虚假广告和一直进行虚假广告）中的选择,本文着重分析了政府相应的监管策略。通过详实的数值分析,探究了在不同的市场环境下的企业利润和具体的政府监管策略,最终提出对策和建议来限制企业的虚假广告宣传、提高消费者效益并净化市场环境。     

Sustaining the Buyout Governance Model: Inside Secondary Management Buyout Boards

This paper examines the impact of private equity (PE) directors and their human capital on operating performance in a unique hand‐collected sample of 200 secondary management buyouts (SMBOs) during 2000–2015. It shows that PE directors’ human capital tends to play a statistically and economically important role in performance. Financial (rather than operational) experience of PE directors in acquiring PE firms tends to have a substantial impact on post‐SMBO profitability, while high‐level business education is especially important in post‐SMBO growth performance enhancement. Complementary expertise, provided by directors in buying and selling PE firms, plays an important role only in post‐SMBO growth improvements. Overall, the paper's results provide evidence that governance benefits of the buyout model tend not to be exhausted in the primary buyout stage, but the effects in the secondary buyout phase depend on the nature of PE directors’ human capital resource, notably in respect of the balance between board monitoring and advisory roles. This study therefore adds to growing evidence on how the ownership and life‐cycle nature of firms affect sustainability of boards fulfilling their roles. The results are robust to sample selection bias, different types of PE firms and different measures of human capital.     

金融资产投资对创新投入的挤出效应研究

基于我国经济“脱实向虚”的宏观背景，文章研究了微观企业金融资产投资对创新投入的消极影响，以及融资融券制度在其中的作用。以2007-2015年A股上市公司为样本的实证检验发现，金融资产投资阻碍了企业的创新投入。其机制在于，金融资产投资不仅引入了较多的外部风险，而且加剧了创新投入面临的融资约束，进而对创新投入表现为显著的挤出效应。以融资融券制度的实施为契机，进一步研究发现，融资融券业务通过增加上市公司的风险与融资约束，最终加剧了金融资产投资对创新投入的挤出效应。因此，应防止上市公司过度从事金融资产投资，同时对融资融券制度进行优化，促使资本市场更好地服务实体经济。     

考虑随机需求与收入共享的风险规避型V2G备用决策模型

在CVaR风险度量准则下，构建了考虑随机需求与收入共享的风险规避型V2G备用决策模型，推导了集中和分散两种决策下渠道成员最优决策行为的解析解，并进一步比较分析了随机需求变量服从均匀分布时的均衡策略。研究发现，集中决策下的最优V2G备用预留因子与渠道整体的风险规避度正相关，而均衡时的V2G备用销售价格与渠道整体的风险规避度的相关性不确定，且受到随机需求变量的分布函数影响；分散决策下的最优V2G备用预留因子仅与电网公司的风险规避度有关，而均衡时的V2G备用销售价格受到电网公司的风险规避度、购电价格以及电动汽车用户收入共享系数等的共同影响；电动汽车用户的最优V2G备用收入共享系数与其风险规避度正相关，而与电网公司的风险规避度负相关。数值仿真结果表明，在绝大多数情形下收入共享合约并不能完美协调此类V2G备用渠道的分散决策行为。     

Hold or sell? How capital gains taxation affects holding decisions

Investments with exit flexibility require decisions regarding both the investment and holding period. Because selling an investment often leads to taxable capital gains, which crucially depend on the duration of an investment, we investigate the impact of capital gains taxation on exit timing under different tax systems. We observed that capital gains taxation delays exit decisions but loses its decision relevance for very long holdings. Often the optimal exit time, which indicates the maximal present value of future cashflows, cannot be determined analytically. However, we identify the breakeven exit time that guarantees present values exceeding those of an immediate sale. While, after-taxes, an immediate sale is often optimal, long holding periods might also be attractive for investors depending on the degree of income and corporate tax integration. A classic corporate tax system often indicates holdings over more than 100 periods. By contrast, a shareholder relief system indicates the earliest breakeven exit time and thus the highest level of exit timing flexibility. Surprisingly, high retention rates are likely to accelerate sales under a classic corporate system. Additionally, the worst exit time, which should be avoided by investors, differs tremendously across tax systems. For an integrated tax system with full imputation, the worst time is reached earlier than under partial or non-integrated systems. These results could help to predict investors’ behavior regarding changes in capital gains taxation and thus are of interest for both investors and tax policymakers. Furthermore, the results emphasize the need to control for the underlying tax system in cross-country empirical studies.     

具有资本结构因子和交易成本的证券组合投资模型

在介绍经典的Harry Markowitz均值-方差投资组合模型的基础上,建立了含有资本结构因子和交易成本的证券组合最优化模型,在组合中不含有无风险证券和含有无风险证券的条件下,分别给出最优投资比例及有效边界,并讨论了资本结构因子与交易成本对有效边界的影响.     

市场化进程、产权配置与上市公司资产剥离业绩——基于同属管辖交易视角的研究

本文以2004-2005年沪深A股上市公司资产剥离事件为研究对象,基于同属管辖交易的独特视角,从市场化进程差异、资产剥离同属管辖交易以及企业产权配置三个方面探讨对上市公司资产剥离业绩改进的影响.研究发现,市场化程度越高、地方政府干预越少,上市公司资产剥离后的业绩越好.但是,如果资产剥离交易双方同属地方政府管辖,则对上市公司的业绩具有显著的负面影响.进一步的研究发现,地方政府控制的产权生质对上市公司资产剥离后业绩改进产生负面影响,非政府控制的产权性质则有显著的正面促进作用.     

A Choice‐Based Dynamic Programming Approach for Setting Opaque Prices

Opaque pricing is a form of pricing where certain characteristics of the product or service are hidden from the consumer until after purchase. In essence, opaque selling transforms a differentiated good into a commodity. Opaque pricing has become popular in service pricing as it allows firms to sell their differentiated product at higher prices to regular brand loyal customers while simultaneously selling to non‐brand loyal customers at discounted prices. We use a nested logit model in combination with logistic regression and dynamic programming to illustrate how a service firm can optimally set prices on an opaque sales channel. The choice model allows the characterization of consumer trade‐offs when purchasing opaque products while the dynamic programming approach allows the characterization of the optimal pricing policy as a function of inventory and time remaining. We compare optimal prices and expected revenues when dynamic pricing is restricted to daily price changes. We provide an illustrative example using data from an opaque selling mechanism ( Hotwire.com ) and a Washington DC‐based hotel.     

考虑动态损失厌恶的V2G市场交易激励机制设计

为推进V2G服务设想的实现,本文将电动汽车用户的动态损失厌恶特性考虑在内,分析了一般“保底收购,随行就市”市场制度下,电动汽车用户与电网公司间关于V2G服务交易的博弈行为,并提出了相应的激励机制。研究发现:在一般“保底收购,随行就市”市场制度下,电动汽车用户关于V2G服务的行为选择无法满足电网公司关于V2G服务电量的期望;电动汽车用户对V2G服务电量的决策受其对未来交易价格预期的影响,且存在违约风险。鉴于此,文章引入“激励保证金+违约金”的激励机制,并给出了对应的保底价格策略、激励保证金与违约金等策略,以使电动汽车用户的V2G服务选择与电网公司的期望相统一。算例分析结果验证了本文提出的模型与理论分析的可行性。     

Demand Growth in Services: A Discrete Choice Analysis of Customer Preferences and Online Selling

The selling of perishable services (e.g., hotel rooms, airline seats, and rental cars) online is increasingly popular with both retailers and consumers. Among the innovative approaches to online sales is opaque selling. First popularized by Priceline.com's name‐your‐own‐price model, opaque selling hides some attributes of the service (notably, brand and specific location) until after the purchase decision, in exchange for a discounted price. This means that a branded “product” is being sold as somewhat of a commodity, but the brand “name” is protected by the opaque model. The attraction of this model for retailers is that they are presumably able to increase their revenue stream, albeit at a lower rate, by selling rooms that otherwise would remain in inventory. In this article, we outline the development and analysis of an online choice survey to understand consumer preferences among three types of online distribution channels: regular full information sales channels, and opaque sales channels with or without consumer bidding. A Multinomial Logit model is employed to analyze the data and measure the consumer trade‐offs between price and other attributes of the product. We use the estimated model to calculate the incremental demand and revenue created by using an opaque channel simultaneously with regular full information channels. On balance, we find that correctly priced opaque channels can add to hotels revenue streams without undue cannibalization of regular room sales.     

食品供应链中企业与农户短期合作交易契约设计

依据食品供应链中企业与农户间的交易特性,在不完全契约理论框架下,建立了双方承诺不再进行协商的短期合作交易契约设计理论模型。研究结论表明,企业的试验代理人地位是保证农户在第一阶段诚实宣告其类型,从而保证双方专用性投资为最优水平的关键,子博弈精炼纳什均衡的主要限制为,企业支付函数必须为单调函数条件才不会说谎。     

Cooperation governance mode: an extended transaction cost approach

This paper analyses the cooperation governance mode and possible factors affecting the choice between an equity joint venture and a contractual agreement. Although transaction cost economics (TCE) provides a workable and well-used framework within which to analyse this choice, it only captures the static transaction costs related to the two modes. This has lead to a discussion about dynamic governance costs and possible benefits related to the governance mode. The objective of this paper is to show how this extended framework differs from TCE when determining the appropriate governance mode. We use four factors related to nature of cooperation to contrast these two approaches. We collected empirical data about cooperation in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector in order to find support for these arguments. Estimates based on logistic regression analysis suggest that our dynamic governance cost and benefit perspective really provides valuable complementary insights into the traditional static transaction-cost framework when it is a question of the choice of alliance form.     

我国高技术企业联盟治理结构选择的实证研究

本文以交易成本理论和关系契约理论为基础,研究高技术企业战略联盟治理结构.作者运用108个高技术企业战略联盟的样本数据,对本文提出的基本研究假设进行了实证检验.实证结果揭示了交易成本理论和关系契约理论在联盟治理当中的互补作用,也证明了不确定性和伙伴关系是决定联盟治理结构选择的关键因素.最后,作者对实证结果进行了讨论,并指出了进一步的研究方向.     

中国证券市场并购行为绩效的实证分析

企业并购是证券市场上资源配置的重要方式,它对企业经营绩效有着重大的影响。本文在回顾相关文献资料的基础上,采用统计方法对近年来我国证券市场的并购行为进行了分析,得出了不同并购行为所产生的不同并购绩效结果,分析了影响并购绩效的相关因素,并提出了若干改善企业并购绩效的政策建议。     

Effect of best management practices on the performance and productivity of small firms

Abstract

Recent research on productivity finds that best management practices are a crucial but neglected element in explaining firm productivity. This stream of research also focuses on why a large number of firms may not implement best management practices despite their apparent benefits. In this paper, we examine the adoption of best management practices in small leveraged buyout (LBO) firms. Our choice of small LBO is motivated by the fact that these firms undergo extensive restructuring and, therefore, there is an opportunity to study the adoption process of best management practices. The findings show that buyout companies introduce best management practices (operations, monitoring, targets and incentive-related practices) at different stages of their development, and more importantly, these practices evolve in response to changes in various firm-level characteristics. For example, companies emphasizing cost leadership tend to follow targets and monitoring related practices while firms following a differentiation strategy are more likely to implement incentives and operations related management practices. Buyout sponsors’ board representatives and new CEO also play a critical role in the adoption of these best management practices which are linked to superior firm performance, measured as growth in revenues, productivity and return on assets.     

竞争环境下新创企业产量柔性技术战略决策研究

考虑新创企业与成熟企业相互竞争,重点研究竞争环境下,两企业的产量柔性技术选择及产能投资决策。首先分析了四种不同策略组合下两企业的最优产能决策、新创企业的最大生存概率以及成熟企业的最大利润;然后用传统博弈论的方法得出了二者的竞争均衡,并分析影响两企业产量柔性战略决策的因素;最后用数值实验进行验证。研究结果表明：在竞争中,新创企业更加关注成本因素,倾向于选择成本较小的无柔性技术;成熟企业对市场需求的波动更为敏感,当市场需求波动较大时,选择产量柔性技术能提高其收益;当产量柔性技术单位产量调整成本较大时,选择无柔性技术对两企业更为有利。