Kampen mot fattigdom och socialt utanforskap ar en av EU:s topprioriteringar efter den globala fi... more Kampen mot fattigdom och socialt utanforskap ar en av EU:s topprioriteringar efter den globala finanskrisen. Genom Europa 2020-strategin atar sig unionen att lyfta minst 20 miljoner europeer ur fattigdom. Utvecklingen i krislanderna har dock gatt i motsatt riktning och de ekonomiska skillnaderna mellan EU:s medlemsstater fortsatter att oka. Ar ett bestaende valfardsgap pa vag att etablera sig mellan Europas mer valmaende ekonomier och de som har halkat efter? Racker krispolitiken for att sakra unionens sociala sammanhallning, eller behovs nya politiska verktyg? Hur har handlingsutrymmet for den nationella valfardspolitiken paverkats av den fria rorligheten? Ur dessa perspektiv analyserar forskarna i denna bok en rad centrala fragor: socialforsakringarna och de sociala rattigheterna, ungdomsarbetslosheten och relationerna pa arbetsmarknaden, den sociala tilliten mellan medborgarna och den press som hogerpopulismen satter pa de etablerade politiska partierna. (Less)
This is the first book in the Interdisciplinary European Studies collection. This volume provides... more This is the first book in the Interdisciplinary European Studies collection. This volume provides an interdisciplinary perspective on trust in the EU from the vantage point of political science, la ...
Abstract Is there enough financial capital to go around the world? This salient question is partl... more Abstract Is there enough financial capital to go around the world? This salient question is partly but insightfully addressed in The Global Race for Foreign Direct Investment edited by Lars Oxelheim (1993). The following observations constitute a set of commentaries on the book's contents from a financial perspective.
We argue that the corporate governance of emerging economy IPO firms is influenced by firmspecifi... more We argue that the corporate governance of emerging economy IPO firms is influenced by firmspecific institutionally embedded block ownership groups. Applying an extended institutional logic perspective and using a mixed-effects ordered probit model, our findings from 190 IPO-firms from 22 African countries 2000-2016, support the notion that five major block owner categories (corporate, private equity, non-executive, business group, state) exerts very different influence on African firms' degree of adoption of Anglo-American corporate governance measures. We find that the influence from the various block owner groups is significantly moderated by institutional quality and tribalism, but to different degrees and directions across block owner groups. Our contextually embedded firm-specific results support the criticism of a one-hat-fits-all global and uniform corporate governance model.
Preprint of published version of an article from Journal of International Business Studies with t... more Preprint of published version of an article from Journal of International Business Studies with the title: "On the internationalization of corporate boards: the case of Nordic firms"This study investigates the internationalization of corporate boards, using a sample of 346 non-financial listed Nordic firms during 2001-2008. Given a high level of international activity, these firms have surprisingly few foreign directors. The picture of international expertise changes considerably, however, if we also count the international experience of national directors. The percentage of foreign directors is related primarily to financial internationalization rather than foreign sales, and thus presumably to the monitoring rather than advisory functions. The international experience of the nationals covaries with foreign sales, and increases with the share of foreign directors. Thus both sources of international expertise should be considered when analyzing board internationalization
Transparency and economic growth have become buzzwords in the economic and political debate in re... more Transparency and economic growth have become buzzwords in the economic and political debate in recent years. On the one hand, a lack of transparency is used as an ex post explanation for corporate scandals such as Enron, WorldCom and Parmalat and bank scandals such as Société Général with assumed effects on economic growth. On the other hand, transparency is advocated as an ex ante driver of improved economic growth, as in the Lisbon Agenda with its use of benchmarking (and the Open Coordination Method). Few research reports have tried to link transparency to economic growth. Transparency is a multidimensional and situationrelated word, with information asymmetry as a kind of lowest common denominator. This chapter addresses optimal transparency concerning macroeconomic influences on the individual firm. It discusses to what extent the implementation as of January 2005 of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for listed consolidated European firms will contribute to a reduced information asymmetry, lower agency costs, lower cost of capital, increased investment and to higher economic growth at the macro level.
This study examines the role of the institutional environment in influencing the migration of cor... more This study examines the role of the institutional environment in influencing the migration of corporate governance best practice into 22 emerging African economies. Using a unique and comprehensive sample hand-collected sample of 202 IPO firms from across the continent, we adopt a novel institutional logics perspective in studying the diffusion of CEO salary disclosure-a central element of corporate transparency. Our findings reveal that the adoption of CEO salary disclosure by firms is more likely in more homogenous informal institutional contexts. Complementarities arising from disclosure originating from an Anglo-American shareholder value governance framework and indigenous formal institutions adhering to English common law infer disclosure is more likely than in contrasting civil code law contexts. Finally, firms with higher proportions of their boards of directors being drawn from indigenous social elites are less likely to disclose CEO salary-where this is reversed in the context of elevated institutional quality. Our findings are important for regulatory authorities, investors and policy makers alike who are involved in institutional improvements in emerging economies.
Being able to separate temporary global macroeconomic influencescaused by fluctuations in exchang... more Being able to separate temporary global macroeconomic influencescaused by fluctuations in exchange rates, interest rates and inflationfrom intrinsic performancerelated to a superior product, production process or management-is crucial to the assessment of the development of a firm's competiveness. Against that background, the paper analyzes institutions' role in making firms supply outside shareholders with relevant information corresponding to satisfactory transparency from the shareholder perspective. Based on a sample of the 100 largest public European firms it is found no firm provided information to the level deemed satisfactory by the outside shareholder. One explanation may be that optimal transparency for the firm does not equal satisfactory transparency for the outside shareholder. However, the implementation of IFRS/IAS 1 in the EU as of 2005, and a company's international cross-listing activities exhibit associations with better supply of information and a narrowing of the gap. Shareholders in the Anglo-Saxon corporate governance system are provided with more relevant information than those in other corporate governance systems. The paper adds to the literature on the role of institutions in international corporate governance, with the particular focus on information asymmetries in an international business context.
ABSTRACT In this chapter we analyze the role of financial factors in the undertaking of cross-bor... more ABSTRACT In this chapter we analyze the role of financial factors in the undertaking of cross-border acquisitions. We discuss financial firm-specific advantages as drivers of these acquisitions as well as the role of the development of the home financial market in exploiting these advantages. Based on a sample of 1,447 European firms' cross-border acquisitions amounting to a total of 566 acquisitions spanning from 0 to 18 for individual firms, we find strong evidence in favor of a cost-of-equity effect on the occurrence of FDI, whereas the stand-alone effect of debt costs is indeterminate. However, allowing firm-specific financial characteristics to be conditioned by home-country financial development, both equity costs and debt costs are found highly significant explanatory factors for cross-border acquisitions undertaken by the sample firms.
Kampen mot fattigdom och socialt utanforskap ar en av EU:s topprioriteringar efter den globala fi... more Kampen mot fattigdom och socialt utanforskap ar en av EU:s topprioriteringar efter den globala finanskrisen. Genom Europa 2020-strategin atar sig unionen att lyfta minst 20 miljoner europeer ur fattigdom. Utvecklingen i krislanderna har dock gatt i motsatt riktning och de ekonomiska skillnaderna mellan EU:s medlemsstater fortsatter att oka. Ar ett bestaende valfardsgap pa vag att etablera sig mellan Europas mer valmaende ekonomier och de som har halkat efter? Racker krispolitiken for att sakra unionens sociala sammanhallning, eller behovs nya politiska verktyg? Hur har handlingsutrymmet for den nationella valfardspolitiken paverkats av den fria rorligheten? Ur dessa perspektiv analyserar forskarna i denna bok en rad centrala fragor: socialforsakringarna och de sociala rattigheterna, ungdomsarbetslosheten och relationerna pa arbetsmarknaden, den sociala tilliten mellan medborgarna och den press som hogerpopulismen satter pa de etablerade politiska partierna. (Less)
This is the first book in the Interdisciplinary European Studies collection. This volume provides... more This is the first book in the Interdisciplinary European Studies collection. This volume provides an interdisciplinary perspective on trust in the EU from the vantage point of political science, la ...
Abstract Is there enough financial capital to go around the world? This salient question is partl... more Abstract Is there enough financial capital to go around the world? This salient question is partly but insightfully addressed in The Global Race for Foreign Direct Investment edited by Lars Oxelheim (1993). The following observations constitute a set of commentaries on the book's contents from a financial perspective.
We argue that the corporate governance of emerging economy IPO firms is influenced by firmspecifi... more We argue that the corporate governance of emerging economy IPO firms is influenced by firmspecific institutionally embedded block ownership groups. Applying an extended institutional logic perspective and using a mixed-effects ordered probit model, our findings from 190 IPO-firms from 22 African countries 2000-2016, support the notion that five major block owner categories (corporate, private equity, non-executive, business group, state) exerts very different influence on African firms' degree of adoption of Anglo-American corporate governance measures. We find that the influence from the various block owner groups is significantly moderated by institutional quality and tribalism, but to different degrees and directions across block owner groups. Our contextually embedded firm-specific results support the criticism of a one-hat-fits-all global and uniform corporate governance model.
Preprint of published version of an article from Journal of International Business Studies with t... more Preprint of published version of an article from Journal of International Business Studies with the title: "On the internationalization of corporate boards: the case of Nordic firms"This study investigates the internationalization of corporate boards, using a sample of 346 non-financial listed Nordic firms during 2001-2008. Given a high level of international activity, these firms have surprisingly few foreign directors. The picture of international expertise changes considerably, however, if we also count the international experience of national directors. The percentage of foreign directors is related primarily to financial internationalization rather than foreign sales, and thus presumably to the monitoring rather than advisory functions. The international experience of the nationals covaries with foreign sales, and increases with the share of foreign directors. Thus both sources of international expertise should be considered when analyzing board internationalization
Transparency and economic growth have become buzzwords in the economic and political debate in re... more Transparency and economic growth have become buzzwords in the economic and political debate in recent years. On the one hand, a lack of transparency is used as an ex post explanation for corporate scandals such as Enron, WorldCom and Parmalat and bank scandals such as Société Général with assumed effects on economic growth. On the other hand, transparency is advocated as an ex ante driver of improved economic growth, as in the Lisbon Agenda with its use of benchmarking (and the Open Coordination Method). Few research reports have tried to link transparency to economic growth. Transparency is a multidimensional and situationrelated word, with information asymmetry as a kind of lowest common denominator. This chapter addresses optimal transparency concerning macroeconomic influences on the individual firm. It discusses to what extent the implementation as of January 2005 of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for listed consolidated European firms will contribute to a reduced information asymmetry, lower agency costs, lower cost of capital, increased investment and to higher economic growth at the macro level.
This study examines the role of the institutional environment in influencing the migration of cor... more This study examines the role of the institutional environment in influencing the migration of corporate governance best practice into 22 emerging African economies. Using a unique and comprehensive sample hand-collected sample of 202 IPO firms from across the continent, we adopt a novel institutional logics perspective in studying the diffusion of CEO salary disclosure-a central element of corporate transparency. Our findings reveal that the adoption of CEO salary disclosure by firms is more likely in more homogenous informal institutional contexts. Complementarities arising from disclosure originating from an Anglo-American shareholder value governance framework and indigenous formal institutions adhering to English common law infer disclosure is more likely than in contrasting civil code law contexts. Finally, firms with higher proportions of their boards of directors being drawn from indigenous social elites are less likely to disclose CEO salary-where this is reversed in the context of elevated institutional quality. Our findings are important for regulatory authorities, investors and policy makers alike who are involved in institutional improvements in emerging economies.
Being able to separate temporary global macroeconomic influencescaused by fluctuations in exchang... more Being able to separate temporary global macroeconomic influencescaused by fluctuations in exchange rates, interest rates and inflationfrom intrinsic performancerelated to a superior product, production process or management-is crucial to the assessment of the development of a firm's competiveness. Against that background, the paper analyzes institutions' role in making firms supply outside shareholders with relevant information corresponding to satisfactory transparency from the shareholder perspective. Based on a sample of the 100 largest public European firms it is found no firm provided information to the level deemed satisfactory by the outside shareholder. One explanation may be that optimal transparency for the firm does not equal satisfactory transparency for the outside shareholder. However, the implementation of IFRS/IAS 1 in the EU as of 2005, and a company's international cross-listing activities exhibit associations with better supply of information and a narrowing of the gap. Shareholders in the Anglo-Saxon corporate governance system are provided with more relevant information than those in other corporate governance systems. The paper adds to the literature on the role of institutions in international corporate governance, with the particular focus on information asymmetries in an international business context.
ABSTRACT In this chapter we analyze the role of financial factors in the undertaking of cross-bor... more ABSTRACT In this chapter we analyze the role of financial factors in the undertaking of cross-border acquisitions. We discuss financial firm-specific advantages as drivers of these acquisitions as well as the role of the development of the home financial market in exploiting these advantages. Based on a sample of 1,447 European firms' cross-border acquisitions amounting to a total of 566 acquisitions spanning from 0 to 18 for individual firms, we find strong evidence in favor of a cost-of-equity effect on the occurrence of FDI, whereas the stand-alone effect of debt costs is indeterminate. However, allowing firm-specific financial characteristics to be conditioned by home-country financial development, both equity costs and debt costs are found highly significant explanatory factors for cross-border acquisitions undertaken by the sample firms.
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Papers by Lars Oxelheim