Control Rights Research Articles

The Effect of Acquisitions on Open Source Software Development

The development of Open Source Software (OSS) often depends on sponsoring firms. Despite their important role, the effect of changes of control rights in these firms has yet to be explored. We study the effect of acquisitions on contributions to OSS using a matched-sample analysis of 347 OSS projects affected by an acquisition. We examine contributions by employees of the sponsoring firm and other contributors, finding acquisitions to have a negative effect. Our data reveals an enormous variation across acquisitions that can be traced back to differences in acquirers’ ability and tendency to extract resources. Our qualitative data provides further insights into the underlying mechanisms. We discuss implications for practice and for research on OSS.

Corporate Social and Political Activism

Firms and their executives are increasingly taking a stand on socio-politically salient yet contentious issues such as racial equality, global warming, gun control, immigration, and LGBTQ rights. Yet, our scholarly understanding on the antecedents and consequences of this growing phenomenon of corporate activism remains relatively limited. The goal of this panel is to explore key research questions to be answered and future directions and opportunities for research on corporate activism. The panel includes scholars who are actively researching this topic and have made important contributions to our understanding of corporate activism. Panelists will share insights and engage with the audience on both the promise and potential pitfalls of studying this topic, as well as how a study of corporate activism can build not only from the nonmarket literatures on social movements, stakeholder theory, corporate social responsibility, but also from related strategy literatures, such as resource-based theory.

Variation in criteria of examination grades from the perspective of “control rights” theory: An analysis of the grading of history as a subject in the new gaokao

Existing literature on national governance models has focused on the analysis of long-term, stable public organizational processes between different levels of governmental and social organizations. In contemporary China, a considerable part of the organization and implementation process in public services relies on cooperation among different local governmental institutions and social groups. This type of process is characterized by short-termism and instability. This paper uses the perspective of the “control rights” theory to analyze the relationship between the three parties: the principal, management, and the implementation agency in the case of the phenomenon of grading criteria variation in the grading of history as a subject in the gaokao (college-entrance examination) of Province X. This paper shows that although the relationship shows a high degree of correlation, the three parties do not belong to the same bureaucratic organization and lack administrative oversight within the process, which increases the uncertainty in negotiation and maneuvering, resulting in two issues: First, the principal party and management party often have divergent views on targets. With the advantage of controlling incentive distribution, the principal party is able to involve itself in the inspection and evaluation of policy implementation, and therefore maintains the ability to arbitrarily intervene in the process. Second, implementation agency behavior is constantly influenced and modified by feedback from the principal party and the management party, and vice versa. In the process of continuous feedback and adjustment, the three parties gradually reach their own shared understanding of policy implementation that becomes the cause of local variation in grading standards. This paper suggests that unstable public organization process is an important area of study on contemporary Chinese governance. Control rights theory can be further explored as an analytic tool and strategies of various social forces in gaining organizational control should also be investigated in depth.

Constitutionality of State Control Meaning on Mineral and Coal Mining Field

The constitutionality of state control meaning is the regulatory concept contained in Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia. In this case, the context of control concerns on mineral and coal mining which will be further regulated by the laws and regulations. Act No. 4 of 2009 on Mineral and Coal Mining in Article 92 gives authority in the form of rights for the holders of Mining License (hereinafter referred to as ML) and Special Mining License (hereinafter referred to as SML) to own minerals, including associated minerals, or coal that has been produced if they have fulfilled exploration fees or production fees except for radioactive minerals. Such an arrangement shows that the authority of the ML/SML holder is a form of freedom to trade these mining materials so that it has the potential to obscure the constitutional rights of the state to control, and causes the position of the state is subordinated to business actors. Through normative juridical research types with various approaches, this research was conducted in dealing with legal issues, especially on examining the philosophical meaning of state control and the consistency of the constitutionality of the rights of ML/SML holders to the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia. The result has disclosed that the actual meaning of the right of state control is the embodiment of positioning the people as subjects to gain prosperity. Meanwhile, the regulation giving the ML/SML holder the authority to legally own minerals and coal is contrary to the constitution. Keywords: constitutionality, state control, authority, sub-ordination DOI: 10.7176/JLPG/111-02 Publication date: July 31 st 2021

Creditor Control of Corporate Acquisitions

Abstract We examine the impact of creditor control rights on corporate acquisitions. Nearly 75$\%$ of loan agreements include restrictions that limit borrower acquisition decisions throughout the life of the contract. Following a financial covenant violation, creditors use their bargaining power to tighten these restrictions and limit acquisition activity, particularly deals expected to earn negative announcement returns. Firms that do announce an acquisition after violating a financial covenant earn 1.8$\%$ higher stock returns, on average, and do not pursue less risky deals. We conclude that creditors use contractual rights and the renegotiation process to limit value-destroying acquisitions driven by managerial agency problems.

Геополитические вызовы российской Арктике при углеводородном освоении территории

The article is devoted to the issues of geopolitical risks (GPR) in the hydrocarbon development of the Russian Arctic. The authors pay special attention to the analysis of modern geopolitical and geostrategic challenges of the Arctic region development. The article identifies the key geopolitical factors that affect the sustainable development of the Arctic and analyzes the similarities and differences in the geostrategic positions of the Arctic Five. One of the most important factors of the XXI century that determines the alignment and interaction of various geopolitical forces is the struggle for resources. In this regard, an increase in GPR in the Arctic, related to its resource potential, is inevitable. For oil and gas industry facilities, GPR can be transformed into opposite environmental factors in the form of additional opportunities or threats, which the authors identify in detail for each type of risk. The authors focus on such positions of the GPR, which are related to ensuring access and obtaining control rights over the Arctic's hydrocarbon resources from different countries, the uncertainty of the legal status of the Arctic region, and the use of geoecological risks (GER) as manipulative priorities of attention to Russia's actions in the Arctic.

Financial shocks to lenders and the composition of financial covenants

We provide evidence that financial shocks to lenders influence the composition of financial covenants in debt contracts. Using two distinct measures of lender-specific shocks—defaults in a lender's corporate loan portfolio that occur outside the borrower's region and industry, and non-corporate loan delinquencies—we show that lenders respond to financial shocks by increasing the number and strictness of performance-based but not of capital-based covenants in debt contracts. We examine two possible channels for this result. We find evidence consistent with lenders using stricter control rights because of concerns about capital depletion (a capital channel) and because of new information about lenders' own screening ability (a learning channel). Our results indicate that lender preferences influence how accounting information is used in debt contracts.

Human Rights of Women under Cameroonian Customary Law: The Need for Change

Human Rights are those rights which are inherent in our nature and without which we cannot live as human beings. The sad fact remains that despite the guarantee of human rights by the Constitution of Cameroon and international treaties, the female half of humanity remains subject to distinctive and continuous forms of abuses, injustice and violence as well as to an enormous range of legal disabilities and discrimination. Our findings revealed that most of the abuses against the women in Cameroon are perpetuated under customary law by the men who see themselves more superior than the women. These abuses take the form of domestic violence and torture, the refusal of the right of inheritance, control and ownership of landed property, ignoring of the woman’s right of consent before marriage, infant betrothal, shaving of hair and sleeping on the floor by a widow after the death of the husband, female genital mutilation and above all, asking a widow to drink the water that was used to wash her husband’s corpse in a bid to prove her innocence that she did not killed her husband. We consider all of these dehumanizing moreover as the woman ceases legally to be a person upon her marriage. Her personality is thus submerged into that of her husband and she becomes the husband’s property. The life of women is thus unfulfilled in many ways and they have accepted this as the natural way of life. There is thus a need for change. This is possible through a careful study and implementation by Cameroon Government of the recommendations that have suggested in the write-up.

Firm innovation and ultimate control mechanism: Case of emerging market

This study analyzes the effect of control enhancing mechanisms (CEMs) on a firm's innovation activities. In the light of conflicting theoretical prophecies on the role of ultimate control, we analyze the ownership concentration by examining the cash flow and control rights deviation which embolden ultimate owners to expropriate. Empirical evidence suggests that CEMs have a negative effect on core and base innovation, although the effect is severe in intermediate aged firms and largest sized firms. These findings are robust in different specifications and have significant implications for policymakers.

Catastrophe progression method - path (CPM-PATH) early warning analysis of Chinese rare earths industry security

China is the only country in the world with a complete rare earths industry supply chain. Therefore, it is a significant case study country to conduct a risk assessment and early warning evaluation of industry security. Industry security refers to a country having the autonomy, control, and development rights over its rare earths industry and a guarantee that the existing or potential rights and interests will remain unharmed. An industry security assessment framework is developed in this study, using 18 selected indicators with regards to four aspects: resources, politics, economy, and technology. The “catastrophe progression method” (CPM) and path analysis method (PATH) were used to identify the early warning status of the rare earths industry and to highlight influencing factors. This paper found that (1) China's rare earths industry is in a “secure” state in general. The security index of the technology subsystem shows a saturated growth of 135.7%; meanwhile, the politics subsystem's security index has a significant declining trend of 21.7%. (2) From 2006 to 2019, the security status of China's rare earths industry experienced three periods of significant fluctuation, which can be summarized as resource-driven, economic-driven and politically-driven respectively. To be more specific, the years of 2006, 2009, and 2012 are important points when the security status of China's rare earths industry underwent significant changes. (3) The security value of subsystem has changed significantly, mainly reflected in the surge of the technology subsystem in 2013 and the sharp drop in the political subsystem in 2017. (4) all the variables considered in the path model influence the security index significantly directly or indirectly or both. The resource subsystem has the largest impact on the security index, followed by the politics subsystem. Finally, based on the above findings and the status-quo of the rare earths industry, we highlight policy recommendations from resources management, international cooperation, market governance, and technology innovation perspectives respectively.

Impact of Rule Governance Mechanism on Project Performance in Public Rental Housing PPP Projects: Control Rights as a Moderating Variable

Exploring the relationship among rule governance mechanism, project control rights allocation, and project performance in public-private partnership (PPP) projects is of great significance for optimizing control rights allocation and governance mechanism to improve project performance of PPP projects. Previous studies have mainly focused on the impact of contractual governance or rule-based governance on the performance of PPP projects, and the research on the allocation of project control rights into the analysis framework is insufficient. The goal of this study is to explore the moderating effect of the allocation of project control rights on the project’s rule mechanism affecting project performance. Based on the theoretical analysis and literature review, three hypotheses are put forward, and the hypotheses are tested by structural equation model using the large sample data collected by questionnaire survey. This study shows that both the rule governance mechanism and project control right allocation have a positive impact on project performance, and the allocation of project control right has a negative moderating effect on the impact of rule governance mechanism on project performance. The public characteristics of PPP projects determine that it is inappropriate for social capital to have too much project control rights. The degree of project control rights owned by social capital should be balanced with the rule governance in the dynamic management process.

Structural change and economic development in the Islamic Middle East 700–1500: Population levels and property rights

AbstractEconomic historians have recently treated Islamic institutions as “growth retarding,” “averse to change,” “path dependent,” “lacking creative destruction” and “extractive” rather than “inclusive” and blamed their failure to change for the underdevelopment of the Middle East. This paper argues for a different approach to Islamic institutions which implies that they boosted economic growth. The paper explores changes in economic structures, a transition in population levels from high to low and a transition to individual property rights and provides economic indicators of growth. Articulated via Islamic law, legally sanctioned birth control and women's property rights were instrumental in assuring low fertility rates and equitable and well‐distributed income in the population. The paper concludes theoretically and empirically that Islamic institutions were innovative, amenable to change and efficient.

Voluntary Bank Debt Renegotiation and Bondholders' Wealth

I utilize bondholder wealth and corporate investment e ffects to test theories of why voluntary bank debt renegotiation happens without any default. Bondholders react positively to renegotiations that relax loan covenants, consistent with Gârleanu and Zwiebel (2009) that lenders transfer control rights back to the firm upon receiving favorable credit information. Positive bondholder reaction also rejects the alternative hypothesis that relaxing covenants signals weakened bank monitoring. Bondholders do not have a negative reaction to the renegotiated loan spread increase. Firms also invest more conservatively after such renegotiations. These results fail to support Gorton and Kahn (2000) that increased loan spread signals that asset substitution cannot be avoided. Lastly, I find that debt overhang is reduced following loan renegotiations that relax covenants.

Effect of corporate governance on expropriation practices with family ownership as moderation variable

The practice of expropriation is one of the accounting frauds committed by controlling shareholders because of their control rights that exceed cash flow rights. This study aims to examine and analyze the effect of corporate governance on the practice of expropriation and the existence of family ownership as a moderating variable. This research was conducted at companies in all sectors of the Indonesia Stock Exchange. Based on the purposive sampling method, the sample of this study was 78 companies with 312 observations. The research data were analyzed using multiple regression analysis. The results of this study indicate that the practice of expropriation in Indonesia can be minimized by implementing adequate corporate governance. The results of this study also prove that companies whose shareholding structures are dominated by the family will maintain control in the company through their management so that they have an impact on limiting governance practices in reducing expropriation practices.

Behavior Towards R&D Investment of Family Firms CEOs: The Role of Psychological Attribute.

IntroductionThis study aims to explore the effects of the behavior of chief executive officers (CEOs) within family firms on investment in research and development (R&D). We also investigate the effect of CEOs’ psychological attributes of overconfidence on R&D investment and the moderating effect between the types of CEOs and R&D investment.MethodsWe obtained data on Chinese A-share firms from China Stock Exchange and Accounting Research from 2010 to 2018 for analysis. Then, we used the ordinary least squares model for regression results; moreover, the Tobit regression, GMM and firm fixed effect model are applied to check the robustness of the results.ResultsFamily CEOs with actual control rights are more open to R&D investment, whereas those without actual control rights exhibit negative behavior. The study found that non-family CEOs exhibit insignificant results and negative predicted signs toward R&D investment. Moreover, the results show that overconfident CEOs are more inclined to amplify innovation. Furthermore, results on the moderating effects of CEO psychological attribute of overconfidence indicate that the CEO overconfidence mitigates the negative relationship between family CEOs with actual control rights and R&D investment. However, no moderating effect is found between family CEOs without actual control and R&D investment. The CEO psychological attribute behavior is positive between non-family CEOs and R&D investment.DiscussionThis novel study explores the behavioral effect of different types of family firm CEOs on R&D investment. This study will assist corporate board members to make more informed decisions about retaining (or bringing back) family CEOs (with or without actual control rights) or hiring non-family CEOs.

Control-Ownership Wedge and Industry Specialist Auditor

This study extends agency theory by explaining the client's understanding of audit quality. This study contributes to the audit literature by examining the effect of wedge control-ownership on industry specialist auditors that have not been researched in Turkey. The interests of minority and controlling shareholders are not completely compatible. The research analysis method used a logistic regression model, finding that firms that practice a larger difference between control rights and cash flow rights tend to prefer high audit quality measures by industry specialist auditors. This study encourages regulators to improve law enforcement to enhance the role of corporate governance in Turkey to address the features of ownership-control firms and offer a suitable environment for investment and minority shareholders.

Disassembling Efforts to Legalize Opting-Out in Arizona: A Case Study of Legislative Politics

Background/Context Opt-out is a national movement based on local efforts as most notably expressed in New York. While studies have addressed opt-out demographics and local impact, fewer studies address the political activism that extends beyond the act of refusing specific tests to changing standardized testing policy. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study This case study extends understanding of the opt-out phenomenon by examining and disassembling a case of efforts to legalize opting-out of state-mandated testing through a state legislative process. The policy reform efforts are framed and disassembled through the discourse of the New Right and elements of the political spectacle. Setting This study is set in the Arizona State Legislature's 2015 and 2016 sessions. Population/Participants/Subjects This study follows the efforts of state legislative policy actors including state legislators, state department of education officials, the state teacher association, and parent opt-out activists. Research Design This is a qualitative case study examining three bills intending to legalize opting-out introduced across two state legislative sessions. Data Collection and Analysis Data were collected utilizing progressive theoretical sampling to identify key legislative policy actors and collect public statements regarding the pending legislation. Data focused on legislative hearings and floor votes publicly archived on the legislature's website. Text of the bills along with contemporary social and traditional media statements were also collected, as were interviews with two state legislators. Data were analyzed for themes arising from the participants themselves, for elements of the New Right discourse, and for elements of the political spectacle. Findings/Results The generally White and affluent demographics of this case's opt-out movement leadership reflect national patterns. Likewise, the movement leadership focused on themes of local control and privacy rights. This vaguely symbolic language combined with casting big government as enemies suggests a fluency in the spectacle of modern legislative politics. Ultimately, opt-out proponents compromised in favor of a new policy initiative reflecting themes of neoliberalism and neoconservatism, the Menu of Assessments. Conclusions/Recommendations The compromise with the experimental Menu of Assessments policy to gain more local control over tests while keeping the expectation of testing in place suggests a limited victory for democracy. However, the Arizona opt-out movement's legislative efforts might also be understood as tension within the hegemonic New Right coalition.

Study on the accomplished judgment standard of the crime of transporting drugs

Because the provisions of the criminal law on the crime of transporting drugs are too abstract, the judicial staff have different judgments on the accomplished crime of transporting drugs, and the phenomenon of different reasons for the same crime sometimes appears, which undermines the stability and consistency of the judicial judgment. In the trial practice, there are opposites in judging the accomplishment standard of the crime of transporting drugs, such as departure theory, reasonable displacement theory, behavior completion theory, entering the means of transport theory, leaving the scene theory and holding behavior+purpose behavior theory . Combined with the legal logic and legislative spirit of the crime of transporting drugs, it is considered that drugs enter the transportation state is the accomplished judgment standard of the crime of transporting drugs. In the case of the integration of people and goods, the shipment of drugs means accomplishment, while in the case of the separation of people and goods, it is necessary to take drugs entering the transportation state as the substantive standard to analyze the specific types. The system structure of the theory that drugs enter the transportation state under the discrimination system has both functionalism and purposiveness, which is conducive to promoting the realization of crime control and human rights protection functions.

Book-Tax Alignment in Family Firms: Evidence from Taiwan

This paper examines the differences in aggressive tax sheltering between family firms and non-family firms and the effects of family succession on tax sheltering. Additionally, we investigate whether the separation of control rights and ownership is the main driver for tax sheltering activities. Using data from Taiwanese firms during a period from 2002-2009, the results show that family firms are more aggressive in tax sheltering as compared to non-family firms. Finally, we provide evidence that the divergence between control and ownership is a key driver for tax sheltering activities.

Technological fit, control rights allocation, and innovation performance of corporate venture capital-backed enterprises

ABSTRACT Based on 351 sample observations of companies listed on the Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) and Small & Medium Enterprise (SME) Board in China, this paper analyzes how the technological fit between corporate venture capital (CVC) parent companies and CVC-backed start-ups is related to CVC-backed start-ups’ innovation performance, as well as the mediating role of the allocation of control rights within CVC-backed start-ups in explaining the relationship. We find that technological fit has a positive effect on CVC-backed start-ups’ innovation inputs, while it has an inverted U-shaped relationship with start-ups’ innovation outputs. Technological fit also has a positive effect on the control rights acquired by CVCs, while the control rights allocation has no significant effect on innovation inputs, but significantly promotes innovation outputs. This suggests that the impact of technological fit on CVC-backed start-ups’ innovation performance arises from both the direct effect of technological fit and the mediating effect of the control rights acquired by CVCs.