Opposition to shareholder value: bond rating agencies and conflicting logics in corporate finance

The Impact of Bond Rating Changes on Corporate Bond Prices

I examine the corporate bond market reaction to bond rating changes using newly available corporate bond transaction data from the over-the-counter (OTC) market. I document significant price responses to both downgrades and upgrades in the in two-day period surrounding announcements. Since numerous studies find no evidence of a stock price reaction do upgrades, my findings adds to the literatur...

Corporate Environmental Policy and Shareholder Value : Following the Smart Money

We examine the value consequences of corporate social responsibility through the lens of institutional shareholders. We find a sharp asymmetry between corporate policies that mitigate the firm’s exposure to environmental risk and those that enhance its perceived environmental friendliness (“greenness”). Institutional investors shun stocks with high environmental risk exposure, which we show hav...

When do Appointments of Corporate Sustainability Executives affect Shareholder Value?

Corporate Risk Management as a Lever for Shareholder Value Creation

Firm value is influenced in many direct and indirect ways by financial risks, which consist of unexpected changes of foreign exchange rates, interest rates and commodity prices. The fact that a significant number of corporations are committing resources to risk management activities is, however, only an indication of the potential of corporate risk management to increase firm value. This paper ...

Shareholder Power and Corporate Governance

The pattern of ownership and control of British industry is unusual compared with most other countries in that ownership is relatively dispersed. Typically the largest shareholder in any large listed company is likely to own a voting minority of the shares. Majority ownership by a single shareholder is unusual. It is not uncommon for the largest shareholding to be under 20 percent and in many c...