Earnings per share is a poor indicator of performance

One of the greatest dangers in corporate financial planning is failing to separate investment decision making from financial policy, because poor quality investments can appear to be desirable as a result of the particular financing vehicle employed. Management's focus of attention should not be rates of growth and earnings per share or return on net worth. Rather, the most important measure of corporate performance is the rate of return on total capital employed. The paper identifies the dangers of employing an earnings per share criterion for evaluating corporate performance, and suggests an alternative: focusing on a company's free cash flow, net operating profits after taxes minus the amount of new capital investment required in order to generate future profits. The author presents an analytical framework employing his free cash flow concept which can be applied to pricing and financing acquisitions.     

Changing perspectives on the capital investment process

The environment within which institutions undertake commercial and industrial activity changes both as a result of decisions dependent on the institution itself and as a result of decisions independent of the institution. In recent years many of these changes have resulted in changing perspectives on the range of criteria which should be considered when determining how and where large corporations should invest their money. This paper examines these changes in corporate practice and identifies the cumulative results of these changes in the environment of corporate activity. The paper also examines some of the key elements in new approaches which corporations are adopting to capital investment decisions by utilizing data on a broadly based research project which examines in depth the capital investment/ resource allocation processes of five large, worldwide, manufacturing firms. The subject is of vital importance to large and small businesses, both because of the crucial importance of investment decisions and because of the importance for future strategic planning of identifying the environment within which corporate activities take place.     

Does strategic corporate performance depend on corporate financial architecture? Empirical study of European,Russian and other emerging market’s firms

Performance of the firm depends on its structural dimensions: capital structure, ownership structure and corporate governance. Their interactions are known as corporate financial architecture according to S. Myers. In this paper we analyze financial architecture which is a mix of ownership structure, capital structure, control and board’s composition, and therefore, provides the given framework for improving corporate performance. We contribute to the literature by different attributes of our study. In contrast to most empirical papers on performance, we develop integrated rather than segmented approach combining the intrinsic components of corporate financial design in one research model. We introduce new variable to capture the structure of ownership for the purpose of performance analysis. Our third contribution is based on comparative analysis of the influence of financial architecture over corporate performance in rather different capital market environment: developed European and emerging (developing) capital market’s countries. We start with a classic empirical model of the impact of ownership structure, capital structure and other components of financial architecture on the corporate performance. Further we verify the validity of exogenous nature of key variables of the classic model when applying it to companies in developed and emerging market environment. Our results could have some important policy implications for the firms in normal economic environment as well as in the period of global economic crisis. We found that the higher proportion of related ownership which indicates investors with significant voting power and the board’s composition affect firm performance positively. The related shareholders and independent directors seem to add more value to firms while the impact of government ownership differs depending on the country. The emerging market’s sample versus the one from developed countries proves the stronger influence of corporate financial architecture over performance.     

Corporate planning—a conceptual critique

Corporate planning is accepted by some as being an effective, efficient, and feasible means of charting the path an enterprise takes through the future. In this paper the author questions both the concept and the contribution of corporate planning. The author examines not only the problem of budgetary analysis within a planning process but also questions the ability of corporate planning to provide the necessary perspective of the future in any identifiable or probabilistic sense. The author postulates ‘the guts of corporate planning’. In the author's own word conceptual critiques ‘may be defined as setting up your own straw man in place of the other fellow's sawdust totem’. However, this paper presents some controversial yet fundamental criticisms of the current concepts of corporate planning. It is for the reader to judge whether the straw or the sawdust is deepest.     

营运资本管理效率对公司盈利能力的影响——基于中国制造业上市公司的经验证据

本文使用2004-2006年我国沪深两市519家制造业上市公司作为研究样本,考察营运资本管理效率与公司盈利能力之间的关系.研究发现,公司盈利能力与反映营运资本管理效率的综合指标现金周期显著负相关,而且与现金周期的各组成部分应收账款周转期、存货周转期和应付账款周转期显著负相关.研究结果表明,管理层可以通过制定适当的信用政策和存货政策,将现金周期、应收账款周转期、存货周转期和应付账款周转期控制在合理的最优水平,实现营运资本的高效周转,提高公司盈利能力.     

The pros and cons of drug testing in the business sector

The public policy issues of whether society should permit the business sector to test for the presence of illegal drug use by the employees is one in which seemingly convincing arguments can be advanced to support self-policing in this area as well as equally cogent arguments erected against the concept of empowering the corporate sector, to investigate the presumably enact sanctions against employee illegal drug usage.In this paper the authors will attempt to explore the controversy from several different scholarly perspectives, analyzing the most important arguments both for and against permitting the corporate sector to engage in employee drug testing. In criticizing each argument we will attempt to explicate the salient public policy implications, business effects and unique ethical issues that will have profound ramifications upon the larger society. In addition, we will analyze the current legal status of this controversy, citing the applicable controlling cases at the Federal level. Finally, the authors will give their policy recommendations based upon their analysis of the discussion in this paper.The authors believe it would be most advantageous to facilitate this discussion by first considering the arguments for permitting the corporate sector to engage in drug-testing employees for illegal substances, and then consider the arguments against permitting corporate drug-testing.     

THE DEMAND FOR LIQUID ASSETS,CORPORATE SAVING,AND INTERNATIONAL CAPITAL FLOWS

The recent period of capital outflows from emerging economies has coincided with an increase in their corporate saving. In this paper, we model corporate saving as a demand for liquid assets by credit‐constrained firms in a dynamic open‐economy macroeconomic model. We find that the implications of this model are very different from standard models, because the demand for foreign bonds is a complement to domestic investment rather than a substitute. We show that this complementarity is at work when an emerging economy is on its convergence path or when it has a higher TFP growth rate. This framework is consistent with a number of stylized facts found in high‐growth, high‐investment emerging economies.     

控股股东代理的激励与侵占效应分析

控股股东与中小股东、债权人的代理冲突已经成为公司治理中代理问题的核心,而且也有相关文献实证分析了控股股东对企业绩效和企业价值的影响,但精确的定量理论分析仍较为缺乏.本文通过建立实物期权模型,理论研究了控股股东代理对企业投资政策选择和企业价值的影响.研究结果表明,随着控股股东现金流权的增加,企业价值增加,证明了控股股东存在正向的激励效应;随着控殷股东控制权和现金流权分离程度的加大.企业价值迅速降低,投资提前,该结论证明了控股股东具有负的侵占效应.     

投资决策与资本结构优化互动关系综述及研究

针对企业理财理论中的融资与投资决策两条研究线索,分别对资本结构理论、投资决策研究进行了综述分析,并对融资、投资相互制约、影响的机理进行探索     

Classifying capital projects for top management decision-making

This paper is an attempt to redress a perceived imbalance in the research and literature of capital project analysis. There is a plethora of work on the quantitative aspects of project analysis, yet empirical surveys show limited use of such techniques. There is limited work on the organizational processes of project selection, but there appears to be little or no work taking place on formal organizational systems for project selection.The more quantitative literature generally takes a deductive approach using a model developed from microeconomics based on the assumption that the objective of the firm is the maximization of owners' wealth. In this paper it is argued that there is a need to take an inductive approach and place the capital investment decision in its organizational setting. This paper looks at the formal capital budgeting system within the corporate setting.It is suggested that the specific capital investment decision takes place against the background of a set of policies and constraints, which are more or less explicit.The selection of corporate projects is a complex issue, but to provide some structure so that the problems can be processed by the organization, a capital budgeting system is designed. Part of this system is the classification of projects according to some criteria. It would therefore appear that the purpose of this classification system is to aid capital project selection within an organizational context.A consideration of classification systems for capital projects is undertaken, this is followed by a survey of the classification systems which have been proposed in the capital investment literature. Finally a classification system based upon specific criteria is proposed.     

Investment and planning in R & D

When planning investment in R & D the required resources must be available—including intellectual resources. Ideally all the issues should be clear: and the R & D programme itself should be the most direct route to the objective, avoiding costly lavishness that may divert attention and effort. Innovation involves using intellectual capital and resources to their best advantage, for commercially worthwhile technical progress in industry. Planning is one of the ‘tools’ and both R & D and investment are ‘materials’ of progress. In this paper, the author examines the many implications behind this statement.     

大股东控制影响上市公司投资效率的路径研究

本文在使用随机前沿分析(SFA)测度中国上市公司投资效率的基础上,将股权结构、公司治理机制、投融资行为与投资效率纳入一个统一的框架体系,运用通径分析方法,就大股东控制对投资效率影响的作用机制及其效应进行实证分析,以鉴定中国资本市场的资源配置效率。结果表明:大股东控制对投资效率具有“激励效应”和“损耗效应”的两面性,并且其“损耗效应”大于“激励效应”,大股东控制通过独立董事比例和资本结构对投资效率发生的“损耗效应”是中国资本市场资源配置无效率的根本原因。因此,只有完善其他能有效制约大股东“损耗效应”的公司治理机制,才能有效地优化上市公司的投资行为,促进中国资本市场资源配置效率的提高。     

现金分红的连续性、投资效率与公司价值——基于面板结构VAR模型的实证分析

本文以1998-2009年间我国1383家上市公司为样本,分别按最终控制人的性质和派现行为是否连续对样本进行了划分,运用面板的结构VAR模型研究了现金股利、投资效率和公司价值之间的关系。基于模型的脉冲响应函数和方差分解,本文对连续派现的公司和非连续派现的公司进行了比较。研究发现：自然人控制的上市公司中,非连续派现公司的投资挤占了现金股利的积极效应,并给公司价值带来了负的冲击效应,连续派现公司的现金分红与投资存在相互促进的效应,公司价值对投资冲击的响应函数值为正;地方政府控制的上市公司整体上投资对现金分红冲击的响应函数值为负,其对公司价值的冲击效应也为负;中央政府控制的上市公司中,连续派现公司的现金分红具有抑制过度投资的效应,但其对投资波动的影响作用较小,若对非连续派现的公司实施以分红为条件的融资政策,则可能会制约其发展。     

CEO Duality,Agency Costs,and Internal Capital Allocation Efficiency

This study examines the impact of CEO duality on firms’ internal capital allocation efficiency. We observe that when the CEO is also chair of the board, diversified firms make inefficient investments, as they allocate more capital to business segments with relatively low growth opportunities over segments with high growth opportunities. The adverse impact of CEO duality on investment efficiency prevails only among firms that face high agency problems, as captured by high free cash flows, staggered board structure and low board independence. Depending on the severity of the agency problem, CEO duality is associated with a decrease in industry‐adjusted investment in high‐growth segments of 1% to 2.1% over the following year, relative to that in low‐growth segments. However, CEOs’ equity‐based compensation curbs the negative effect of CEO duality on internal capital allocation efficiency. Overall, the findings of this study offer strong support for the agency theory and postulate the internal capital allocation policy as an important channel through which CEO duality lowers firm value in diversified firms.     

Whose company is it? The concept of the corporation in Japan and the west

This article examines the differences in the concept of the corporation and their possible implications for corporate performance, between Japan on the one hand and the United States and Europe (Germany, UK and France) on the other. The Japanese concept is used as the standard against which the other models are compared. The concept of the corporation is defined here as the answer to the question: ‘In whose interest should the firm be managed?’¹ This is the foundation on which corporate governance and the monitoring system for the CEO is built. The analysis is focused on large publicly-held corporations with widely diffused ownership.     

The syndication of venture capital investments

This paper examines competing finance, resource-based and deal flow explanations for the syndication of venture capital investments. Evidence from 60 firms (a 58.8% response rate) is analysed. Overall the finance perspective provides a strong explanation of motives for syndication, but the resource-based view is found to be much more important for those firms involved in at least some early stage transactions. The implications for researchers are that venture capital firms should not be treated as a homogeneous group and that the investment stages in which they operate may strongly influence attitudes towards syndication. In addition, there are implications for practitioners as venture capital firms may not be attributing sufficient attention to the need to augment their own resource base in order to enable them to make superior decisions when selecting deals and managing investments.     

经济政策不确定性对企业投资结构偏向的影响--基于中国EPU指数的经验证据

层出不穷的"黑天鹅"事件加剧了市场恐慌情绪导致全球经济政策不确定性创出新高。宏观经济政策不确定性对微观企业投资行为会产生怎样影响?本文利用上市公司2007-2016年季度数据,实证检验了经济政策不确定性对企业实体投资与虚拟投资行为的影响。以Baker等开发的中国经济政策不确定性指数发现:(1)经济政策不确定性与企业实体投资活动之间呈显著负相关关系,经济政策不确定性攀升导致企业实体投资下降;而经济政策不确定性与企业虚拟投资活动之间呈显著正相关关系,经济政策不确定性攀升反而导致企业虚拟投资上升。(2)经济政策不确定性攀升导致实物资产投资成本上升抑制了企业实体投资活动,投资成本是不确定性影响微观企业实体投资的中介路径;相对而言,经济政策不确定性攀升却导致金融资产投资收益上升刺激了企业虚拟投资活动,投资收益是不确定性影响微观企业虚拟投资的中介路径。(3)政府干预弱化了经济政策不确定性与企业投资行为之间的关系,而市场竞争、公司治理强化了经济政策不确定性与企业投资行为之间的关系。政府干预、市场竞争、公司治理对经济政策不确定性与企业投资行为之间的关系具有显著的调节作用。本文研究力图打开企业资本配置内部结构黑箱,拓展微观企业投资行为研究内容,揭示宏观经济政策不确定性对微观企业投资行为影响的内在机理与路径,为当前全球不确定事件的经济影响以及中国经济"脱实向虚"问题研究提供了有意义的借鉴。     

基于企业生命周期的智力资本对企业价值影响研究

以我国高科技上市公司为样本的分组回归结果表明,高科技企业的智力资本不但显著影响企业价值创造结果,而且显著影响资本市场对企业市场价值的感知与评价;企业生命周期在智力资本与企业价值之间确实具有调节效应,智力资本要素在不同企业生命周期阶段发挥的价值作用不同,处于成熟期的高科技企业智力资本发挥的价值作用最大。在企业成长期,人力资本、创新资本都是高科技企业价值创造的主要要素,显著提升企业价值;在衰退期,只有人力资本是主要提升企业价值的要素。由此,企业管理者应根据企业生命周期具体阶段制定恰当的智力资本投资和管理策略,以在复杂而激烈的竞争环境中保持企业竞争优势。     

Planning for increased productivity

The planning process in manufacturing industry is increasingly affected by the assessments which are made of human productivity, and a need to take account of the interplay between human needs and the demands of capital intensive and technologically controlled manufacturing environments. This paper examines a number of these aspects, and in particular those concerning the present and past relationship between Technology and Manufacturing. The study portrays the differing emphasis given by industries and countries to the allocation of the wealth produced by manufacturing, and in particular examines the possible problems which could be created by the increasing proportion of total value added being allocated to wages and salaries. The paper examines the possible ways of countering this trend, which could of course lead to inadequate resources being allocated to investment to sustain future growth. The article concludes by commenting on recent United Kingdom experience and in particular the use of incentive payment schemes based upon added value.     

Dow Jones Sustainability Group Index: A Global Benchmark for Corporate Sustainability

Increasingly investors are diversifying their portfolios by investing in companies committed to the concept of corporate sustainability. Investors are attracted to this new investment style because it promises to create long-term shareholder value by embracing opportunities and managing risks deriving from ongoing economic, environmental and social developments. It focuses on future challenges and is capable of capturing qualitative non-financial information for criteria such as quality of management, corporate governance structures, reputational risks, human capital management, stakeholder relations, corporate social responsibility.Here we present the framework used by the Dow Jones Sustainability Group Index (DJSGI) for identifying and ranking companies according to their corporate sustainability performance. In a yearly review the 10% leading sustainability companies in each of the 64 industry groups are selected for inclusion in the DJSGI. Throughout the year the companies are continuously monitored and, if necessary, downrated or excluded from the Index. A variety of sources is used for the assessment and for cross-checking of information, including company questionnaires, company documents, publicly available information, stakeholder relations, media screening and company interviews. The selection process is externally verified and the methodology is reviewed yearly to capture the increasing knowledge and standardisation of sustainability issues and to align it with ongoing initiatives such as the Global Reporting Initiative.