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Showing papers on "Divestment published in 2014"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine variation in the rate of divestment by multinational firms from Burma and find that beyond firm-level concerns, firms divest in response to the political characteristics of their home country, including protest, the level of political freedom, and transparency of institutions.
Abstract: We examine variation in the rate of divestment by multinational firms from Burma. We argue that in addition to a set of firm-level characteristics known to impact divestment decisions, firms are also influenced by characteristics of their home country and the divestment patterns of others. Using data on firms operating in Burma during 1996–2002, we model these multiple influences on firms to divest. Our results show that beyond firm-level concerns, firms divest in response to the political characteristics of their home country, including protest, the level of political freedom, and transparency of institutions. We also find that the centrality of their home country in the network of intergovernmental organizations impacts divestment patterns in interesting ways. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

121 citations


Posted Content
TL;DR: In this article, the authors show that media attacks on the focal firm and its peers both increase the likelihood of divestment for the focal firms, followed by attacks on peers in the same industry subcategory, and by attacks in different subcategories.
Abstract: In stigmatized industries characterized by social contestation, hostile audiences, and distancing between industry insiders and outsiders, firms facing media attacks follow different strategies from firms in uncontested industries. Because firms avoid publicizing their tainted-sector membership, when threatened, they can respond by divesting assets from that industry. Our analyses of the arms industry demonstrate that media attacks on the focal firm and its peers both increase the likelihood of divestment for the focal firm. Specifically, attacks on the focal firm are the most consequential, followed by attacks on peers in the same industry subcategory, and by attacks on peers in different subcategories. These findings shed new light on divestment as a response to media attacks in stigmatized industries and lead us to rethink impression management theory.

98 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors proposed a managerial decision framework to deal with internationalization whether in stable or dynamic environments, which is the result of an inferential abductive approach that merges the risk management model with empirical data collected from a 32-year longitudinal case study on nine Swedish MNCs.

66 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on divestments, that is, foreign affiliates that are sold to local owners, and combine a difference-in-differences approach with propensity score matching to establish a causal effect of the ownership change.
Abstract: The literature has documented a positive effect of foreign ownership on firm performance. But is this effect due to a one-time knowledge transfer or does it rely on continuous injections of knowledge? To shed light on this question we focus on divestments, that is, foreign affiliates that are sold to local owners. To establish a causal effect of the ownership change we combine a difference-in-differences approach with propensity score matching. We use plant-level panel data from the Indonesian Census of Manufacturing covering the period 1990-2009. We consider 157 cases of divestment, where a large set of plant characteristics is available two years before and three years after the ownership change and for which observationally similar control plants exist. The results indicate that divestment is associated with a drop in total factor productivity accompanied by a decline in output, markups as well as export and import intensity. The findings are consistent with the benefits of foreign ownership being driven by continuous supply of headquarter services from the foreign parent.

52 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate, through six case study institutions, organisational innovations that may provide direction towards the future restructuring of agricultural research, development and extension effort in Australia.

52 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a Shadow Impact Calculator (SIC) was developed to examine the potential environmental impacts of investment decisions. But the authors focus on greenhouse gas emissions to show which sectors of the United States economy have particularly large or small carbon shadows and place those results in the context of volatility and earnings.

49 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the impact of cross-national distance on the divestment of foreign affiliates and found that distance created by economic, financial, political, administrative, cultural, demographic, knowledge and global connectedness leads to divestment.
Abstract: In this study, we examine the impact of cross-national distance on the divestment of foreign affiliates. On the basis of the nine dimensions of cross-national distance (Berry et al. 2010. “An Institutional Approach to Cross-National Distance.” Journal of International Business Studies 41 (9): 1460-1480), we empirically examine the impact of each measure of distance on the divestment of affiliates. Using a data set of 1697 multinational corporations (MNCs) headquartered in Korea and their 2435 affiliates in 67 host countries from 2000 to 2010, we find that distance created by economic, financial, political, administrative, cultural, demographic, knowledge and global connectedness leads to the divestment of foreign affiliates. We also find that the positive relationship between cross-national distance and affiliate divestment is likely to become stronger when an MNC enters the host country through a joint venture and weaker for affiliates with greater experience in the host country.

49 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of intra-firm product shifts within the same MNC network on foreign subsidiary divestment were examined and the conditions under which multinational corporations' (MNCs) foreign manufacturing subsidiaries in labor-intensive industries are not divested from their host country markets under the influence of their own host country's rising labor costs.
Abstract: We take the multinational flexibility perspective and examine the conditions under which multinational corporations’ (MNCs’) foreign manufacturing subsidiaries in labor-intensive industries are not divested from their host country markets under the influence of their host country’s rising labor costs. We examine in this paper the effects of intra-firm product shifts within the same MNC network on foreign subsidiary divestment. We utilize a panel of data of Korean MNCs’ foreign subsidiaries in labor intensive industries and employ a Cox proportional hazard rate model as an event history analysis methodology on STATA 10. We find that intra-firm product shifts within the same MNC network reduce the probability of subsidiaries exposed to rising labor costs in their host countries being divested earlier. We also find that greater cross-country labor cost differentials and more country options in the same MNC network are helpful in facilitating intra-firm product shifts and lowering divestiture rates of the subsidiaries. Contrastingly, we find from control variables that weaker performing, smaller, and stand-alone subsidiaries, in riskier countries, facing currency appreciation, and increasing labor costs are more likely to divest. We conclude from our findings that MNCs are able to enhance multinational flexibility by using intra-firm trade connections among affiliated firms in flexible responses to cross-border cost and value differentials.

43 citations


Book
25 Aug 2014
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the role of fake drugs and pharmaceutical regulation in Nigeria's economy, and present a social life of bioequivalence based on the logic of the Hustle.
Abstract: Preface vii Acknowledgments xiii Introduction. Chemical Multitudes: Fake Drugs and Pharmaceutical Regulation in Nigeria 1 1. Idumota: Pharmacists, Traders, and the New Free Market 25 2. Risky Populations: Drug Industry Divestment and Militarized Austerity 53 3. Regulation as a Problem of Discernment: Open Markets in the Making 80 4. Derivative Life: Nominalization and the Logic of the Hustle 103 5. Chemical Arbitrage: A Social Life of Bioequivalence 126 6. Marketing Indefinite Monopolies: Intellectual Property, Debt, and Drug Geopolitics 155 Conclusion. Old Specters, New Dreams 177 Notes 185 Bibliography 209 Index 233

35 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate how managerial expertise (specifically, industry expertise) affects firm value through divestitures and find that firms that divest for a better CEO-firm match experience significant improvements in operating performance and significant abnormal stock returns that persist for an average of three years following a divestiture.

31 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored the factors that can influence foreign firms' strategic decisions regarding expansion, downsizing, relocation and termination of their operations in developing sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries.
Abstract: Foreign firms’ strategic decisions in a host country after the initial investment are important issues worth extensive academic enquiry. This issue is, however, underresearched and the scant literature that does exist is focused on developed countries, despite the increasing interests and investments by firms in developing countries. Using the case of a developing sub-Saharan African (SSA) country (Ghana), this study attempts to close this gap in the literature, as it explores the factors that can influence foreign firms’ strategic decisions regarding expansion, downsizing, relocation and termination of their operations. The study found that host countries’ business environments play an important role in foreign firms’ subsequent strategic decisions. The study particularly found that favorable government regulations, low cost factors and good infrastructure are important in influencing foreign firms’ expansions decisions. Unfavorability of these factors within the business environment on the other hand will stimulate strategic divestment.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Gomez-Plana and Latorre as mentioned in this paper have received financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economics and Competitiveness through the projects ECO 2011-24304 (A. G. Gomez-plana) and ECO2011-29314-C02-02 (Maria C. Latorres) is gratefully acknowledged.
Abstract: Financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economics and Competitiveness through the projects ECO 2011-24304 (A. G. Gomez-Plana) and ECO2011-29314-C02-02 (Maria C. Latorre) is gratefully acknowledged.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the consumer welfare effect of a firm's partial ownership of a competitor and the implications of alternative forms of divestiture are examined, and conditions under which turning voting shares into nonvoting shares is preferable to selling the shares to the firm's current shareholders are identified.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is appropriate to restore political and institutional consensus, to emphasize «clinical management» and divestment of inappropriate services (approach to the medical profession and its role as micro-manager), and to create frameworks of good governance and organizational innovations that support these structural reforms.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper examined the impact of familiarity with business segments on CEOs' divestment decisions and found that CEOs are less likely to divest assets from familiar than from non-familiar segments, and attributed this effect to CEOs' comparative information advantage with respect to familiar segments.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: While spinoffs’ strategic emphasis remains stable, buyouts gradually emphasize R&D over marketing increasingly over the years as they repay their debt.
Abstract: This research compares the performance of spinoffs and buyouts divested to commercialize innovations. The authors study 145 spinoffs and 121 buyouts that occurred in the United States between 1996 and 2005. Analysis provides three critical findings. First, spinoffs have higher profits in the two years after divestiture; afterwards, buyouts have higher profits. Second, strategic emphasis (investment in RD a two-step mediated effect via strategic emphasis and radicalness. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel as mentioned in this paper is a networked contestation of the discursive rules that require a symmetry be posited between Palestinians and Israel, Israel be represented as sui generis, and the relationship be temporally delimited to 1967.
Abstract: This article analyses the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel. First, it adumbrates the emergence and emphases of the BDS campaign. Then, it explains the BDS tactics, particularly the boycott measure. Next, it highlights some of the contradictions surrounding the campaign. The article closes by identifying the campaign’s power and promise in its transgression of limits of the discourse of Palestinian-Israeli politics. More specifically, the campaign is powerful because it is a networked contestation of the discursive rules that require a symmetry be posited between Palestinians and Israel, Israel be represented as sui generis, and the relationship be temporally delimited to 1967.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate the effect of brand divestments on firm value and find that only when firms divest local or regional brands in non-core businesses is the effect on the firm value positive.
Abstract: ____ In this article, we investigate the effect of brand divestments on firm value. We integrate two common motives for focus-increasing brand divestitures—global branding and refocusing on core businesses—in a single common framework. In particular, we investigate the effects of divesting local/regional/global brands in core businesses and local/regional/global brands in non-core businesses on firm value. Analyzing 205 divestment announcements in the global food and beverages industry, we find that, in most cases, brand divestments destroy firm value. Only when firms divest local or regional brands in non-core businesses is the effect on firm value positive.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Wang et al. as mentioned in this paper employed the triangulation approach consisting of an opinion survey to measure the level of consensus on each of a total of eleven SWOT factors surrounding TOT and divestiture models, and in-depth case studies on the tworepresentative TOT/Divestiture projects.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, van Renssen looks at the causes and implications of divestment from fossil fuels and suggests that the smart bet may be on clean energy and low-carbon infrastructure.
Abstract: When it comes to investments, the smart bet may be on clean energy and low-carbon infrastructure. Sonja van Renssen looks at the causes and implications of divestment from fossil fuels.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provide the determinants of how privatization works in some selected Middle East North Africa countries using a sample of 75 new privatized firms and examine the performance changes in countries namely Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey.
Abstract: This paper aims to provide the determinants of how privatization works in some selected Middle East North Africa countries. Using a sample of 75 new privatized firms we examine the performance changes in countries namely Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey. We document a significant increase in profitability, efficiency and output as well as a decrease in leverage. We also identify that these improvements vary with economic reforms and environment, effectiveness of corporate governance and the privatization method used. In particular, financial liberalization and control relinquishment by the government are associated with higher efficiency and output. Furthermore, foreign participation and the use of share issue privatization as divestment method appear to have a positive impact on efficiency and output changes. Additionally, the use of private sales is related to a significant decrease in leverage. Finally our results highlight the importance of economic reforms, corporate governance and the choice of privatization method in explaining the post privatization changes in performance.

Journal Article
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the strategies used by commercial banks in Kenya to respond to changes in the economic environment and found that the appropriate response strategies guarantee a competitive edge that ensures the organizations remain relevant.
Abstract: Dynamic environment changes impact on organizations goals and objectives and this makes it difficult for organizations to remain viable. To be able therefore to stay ahead of competition, it’s imperative for the organizations to continually scan the environment so that the organizations adjust their strategic responses to accommodate the demands of the environment. The appropriate response strategies guarantee a competitive edge that ensures the organizations remain relevant. This study examined the strategies used by commercial banks in Kenya to respond to changes in the economic environment. A sample of thirty five banks was used and primary data collected using questionnaires administered to the managers of the banks who are responsible for developing response strategies. Secondary data was obtained from the banks’ existing bank publications and annual reports. The study established that the commercial banks have been able to respond to the changes in their environment through retrenchment strategies which involved cutting operating costs and divestment of non-core assets. They have also responded to the environment using various investment strategies which contrast with retrenchment and as such firms perceive these changes as opportunities to invest, innovate and expand into new markets in order to achieve or extend a competitive advantage. It was also established that ambidextrous strategies have been used where organizations combine incremental change with discontinuous change, or the exploitation of existing resources to improve efficiency. This occurs through exploration of new sources of competitive advantage and innovation. It is recommended that in order to stay ahead of competition, commercial banks should continuously scan the environment aggressively and speed up implementation of various strategies. Key words : Response strategies, commercial banks, economic changes

Book ChapterDOI
29 Oct 2014
TL;DR: In many settings, the extractive industries are critical targets of climate activists, for example, where divestment of stocks is one strategy, or refusing access to land for mining is another as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: A long period of capitalist crisis has amplified uneven and combined development in most aspects of political economy and political ecology in most parts of the world, with a resulting increase in the eco-social metabolism of profit-seeking firms and their state supporters. This is especially with the revival of extraction-oriented corporations, especially fossil fuel firms, which remain the world’s most profitable. What opportunities arise for as multi-faceted a critique of “extractivism” as the conditions demand? With ongoing paralysis of United Nations climate negotiators, to illustrate, the most critical question for several decades to come is whether citizen activism can forestall further fossil fuel combustion. In many settings, the extractive industries are critical targets of climate activists, for example, where divestment of stocks is one strategy, or refusing access to land for mining is another. Invoking climate justice principles requires investigating the broader socio-ecological and economic costs and benefits of capital accumulation associated with fossil fuel use, through forceful questioning both by immediate victims and by all those concerned about GreenHouse Gas emissions. Their solidarity with each other is vital to nurture and to that end, the most powerful anti-corporate tactic developed so far, indeed beginning in South Africa during the anti-apartheid struggle, appears to be financial sanctions. The argumentation for invoking sanctions against the fossil fuel industry (and its enablers such as international shipping) is by itself insufficient. Also required is a solid activist tradition. There are, in 2014, two inter-related cases in which South African environmental justice activists have critiqued multi-billion dollar investments, and thus collided with the state, with two vast parastatal corporations and with their international financiers. Whether these collisions move beyond conflicting visions, and actually halt the fossil-intensive projects, is a matter that can only be worked out both through argumentation – for example, in the pages below – and through gaining the solidarity required to halt the financing of climate change.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed the exit strategies of buyout funds in their portfolio companies following initial public offering (IPO) using a data set of 222 buyout-backed IPOs in the United States between 1999 and 2008 including hand-collected data about each exit process.
Abstract: This paper analyzes exit strategies of buyout funds in their portfolio companies following Initial Public Offerings. We use a data set of 222 buyout-backed IPOs in the United States between 1999 and 2008 including hand-collected data about each exit process to draw up a detailed road map of buyout investors’ divestment processes. Using this data, we document timing and aggressiveness of the exit strategies, and analyze to which degree a multitude of possible determinants influence the choice for a given exit strategy. Our results show that buyout funds stay invested in their portfolio companies for a substantial period of time after the IPO, and that the choice for a given exit strategy depends not only on characteristics of each respective portfolio company, but also on the financial success of the deal from the perspective of the buyout investor.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors proposed an option pricing approach to quantify the option to wait in a residential real estate fund divestment, where the value of waiting to invest has been acknowledged in management of real capital investments.
Abstract: Purpose – The value of waiting to invest has been acknowledged in management of real capital investments. Investment decision should be undertaken only if it can justify giving up the value of the option to wait; the same logic is proposed here to be applicable on divestment management of a real estate fund. The purpose of this paper is to test option pricing to quantify the option to wait in a residential real estate fund divestment. It is argued that standard industry valuation practices miss the value of active fund management that should be included when planning a fund divestment strategy. Design/methodology/approach – Dynamic programming, specifically binomial option-pricing model is suggested to complement the current industry standard valuation approaches. The approach is tested in an embedded case study where assets of a residential real estate fund are valuated using the model. Findings – Option pricing can provide risk-neutral quantified value whether an apartment building portfolio should be d...

01 Jan 2014
TL;DR: In the face of dire threats posed by anthropogenic climate change, a growing international Movement for Fossil Fuel Divestment has emerged to challenge the political and economic power of the fossil fuel industry as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: In the face of dire threats posed by anthropogenic climate change, a growing international Movement for Fossil Fuel Divestment has emerged to challenge the political and economic power of the fossil fuel industry. Building off a history of college and university divestment campaigns, students are spearheading the movement to rid their institutions’ endowments of investments in the top 200 companies with the largest reserves of coal, oil, and natural gas. Highlighting perspectives from within the movement and drawing from literature in social movement theory and Climate Justice, I explore three crucial components of the student Fossil Fuel Divestment Movement: Climate Justice, perceptions of risk, and potential political impacts. I argue that Fossil Fuel Divestment is a powerful component of the broader Climate Movement because it is mobilizing and radicalizing a new generation of activists to fight the climate crisis, challenging the dominant paradigm of individualized climate action, and is significantly influencing the public discourse on climate change. In seeking to further illuminate the power of this movement, I explore the possibilities and limitations of divestment as a tactic for Climate Justice and offer recommendations for moving forward.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The paper documents the simultaneous introduction of quality and access measures and the creation of a continuously evolving improvement panel of metrics which underpin the performance of local centers and population-wide reporting of Cancer Control.
Abstract: Cancer Care Ontario as a provincial agency has undergone a significant transformation in the last 10 years. This paper documents a predictable crisis of radiotherapy capacity at the turn of the millennium, creating an imperative for transformative change. This transformation occurred included a divestment of existing cancer centers to large local host hospitals while retaining service obligations through a financial, quality and performance contract. The paper documents the simultaneous introduction of quality and access measures and the creation of a continuously evolving improvement panel of metrics which underpin the performance of local centers and population-wide reporting of Cancer Control. The recent successful expansion to include renal services is referenced.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the reasons for realising corporate spin-outs, especially regarding the involvement of financial investors, were investigated based on 30 European case studies within the chemical and pharmaceutical industry.
Abstract: The spin-out of research and development (R&D) activities from established companies has increased during recent years. The reasons for realising corporate spin-outs, especially regarding the involvement of financial investors, were investigated based on 30 European case studies within the chemical and pharmaceutical industry. The reasons can be categorised into two groups: an investment and a divestment rationale. Whereas the chemical industry uses both rationales, there are only divestment cases in the pharmaceutical industry. The investment cases within the chemical industry show that R&D spin-outs can make an important contribution towards the flexibilisation and performance improvement of a company's internal R&D. The divestment cases show that R&D spin-outs can be a suitable possibility to continue promising R&D activities. The survival rate of the analysed spin-outs is high and numerous new jobs have been created in the past years, especially in pharmaceutical spin-outs.

Book ChapterDOI
07 Jul 2014
TL;DR: In this article, the impact of socially responsible investing (SRI) in terms of its role in governance is evaluated primarily through a conceptual and theoretical argument rather than empirical research, and the subject-matter of the chapter is evaluated solely through a discussion of the relationship between SRI and its legal governance through the state or the market.
Abstract: Purpose This chapter assesses the impact of socially responsible investing (SRI) in terms of its role in governance. Governance refers to the rules, incentives, institutions and philosophies for coordinating, controlling and supervising behaviour. The SRI sector purports to be a mechanism of market governance, such as through its codes of conduct and targeting of individual companies by engagement or divestment. Method/approach This subject-matter of the chapter is evaluated primarily through a conceptual and theoretical argument rather than empirical research. Findings Social investors’ capacity to ‘govern’ the market is constrained by gaps and deficiencies in the legal frameworks for the financial economy. Fiduciary law controlling institutional investors is the most important element of this governance framework. The SRI movement is starting to broaden its agenda and strategies to include advocacy for regulatory reform. But the SRI industry has devoted attention to its own voluntary codes of conduct, such as the UNPRI, which do not yet provide a sufficiently comprehensive or robust substitute for official regulation. Social implications Paradoxically, whereas SRI once stood for taking action through the financial economy when governments had failed to act, the sector is also somewhat dependent on the state to provide an empowering governance framework. But state regulation itself may be strengthened by partnership with the SRI industry, such as by utilising its codes of conduct to supplement official legal standards. Originality/value of the chapter The chapter deepens insights into the relationship between the SRI sector as a largely voluntary movement and its legal governance through the state or the market.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article investigated how managerial expertise affects firm value through divestitures and found that firms that divest for a better CEO-firm match experience significant improvements in operating performance, as well as significant abnormal stock returns that persist for an average of three years following a divestiture.
Abstract: This paper investigates how managerial expertise — specifically, industry expertise — affects firm value through divestiture. Using CEOs’ managerial experiences in industries throughout their careers as a measure of their industry expertise, I find that CEOs in diversified conglomerates are more likely to divest divisions in industries in which they have less experience. This finding is consistent with CEOs who divest such divisions in order to refocus on those divisions in which they have specialized — that is, to achieve a better match between their expertise and their firms’ retained assets. Firms that divest for a better CEO-firm match experience significant improvements in operating performance, as well as significant abnormal stock returns that persist for an average of three years following a divestiture. Further, among firms that divest for a better match, those firms with more experienced CEOs realize greater gains in firm value. In contrast, divestitures that increase corporate focus, but do not improve the expertise-asset match, do not lead to long-run increases in firm value.