Ownership Strategies Research Articles

The Influence of Parental Ownership Strategies on the Management of Academic Performance in Secondary Schools in Imenti South Sub-County, Meru County, Kenya

Purpose: The study examined the influence of parental ownership on the management of academic performance in Imenti South Sub County, Meru County, Kenya. Approach/Methodology/Design: The study adopted a mixed methodology approach and concurrent triangulation design. The target population of the study was a total of 17568 respondents consisting of 16800 students, 48 principals, and 720 teachers. The researcher used stratified sampling to get the 8 principals and purposive sampling to get 720 teachers and 64 students. The researcher used questionnaires and interview schedules to collect data from principals, teachers, and students. Piloting of the research instruments was done in10% of the sample size in the neighboring Igembe Sub-County. Validity was measured by face and content validity, while the reliability of research instruments was checked through test and retest method. The reliability coefficient was computed using the Pearson Product correlation coefficient where a coefficient of less than 0.07 was deemed dependable. Qualitative data was analyzed using themes and presented using narratives, while quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS version 21. Findings: The results indicate that students were not performing well in their academic performance is because many parents are not involved. The study, therefore, recommended that with increased parental engagement through volunteering, ownership, guidance and support, the learners would perform better. Originality/value: This study has significant value in the sense that if the parents own the schools where their children study, then the academic performance would improve, and at the same time, there would be greater discipline among the learners.

Does corruption distance affect cross‐border acquisitions? Different tales from developed and emerging markets

AbstractUsing a large sample of cross‐border deals, we find an inverted U‐shaped relationship between corruption distance and cross‐border acquisition (CBA) volume. CBAs involving higher corruption distance show negative post‐acquisition performance. However, multinational enterprises (MNEs) with larger equity stakes deliver superior gains. We find that the ownership strategy varies with levels of corruption distance. MNEs mitigate adverse selection and moral hazard problems by acquiring targets from a related industry and targets with a foothold. We demonstrate that CBA activity and ownership strategy vary between developed and emerging economies and both ‘level’ and ‘direction’ of corruption distance are important in its effect on CBAs.

Political Risk, Volume of FDI, and Ownership Strategy: Contextual Analysis of African Markets

This research examines the relationship between political risk and the volume of FDI activity and ownership strategy of foreign firms in Africa. Our study employs panel regression models to examine 2,360 FDIs into four low political risk and five high political risk African countries during the period 2010-2017. This data represents FDIs from the top 10 countries with the most investments in Africa (UNCTAD, 2018). We find that there is a progressive increase in the volume of FDI activity by multinationals in high political risk countries, even though low political risk countries remain the preferred FDI destinations. We also find that joint venture (JV) is the preferred ownership strategy by foreign multinationals in high political risk African countries. The preferred ownership strategy in this research helps firms mitigate potential hostile government policies such as expropriations. This research contributes both theoretically and empirically to enrich the political economy and international business literature.

The Royal Bay Bakery

Theoretical basis There are a range of business evaluation methods that can be applied to determine the value of a business. Ultimately, the valuation of a business is what someone will pay for it when the sale transaction is completed. When determining the value of their own business, business owners are often influenced by how hard they have worked to start and build up the business, what the business represents and their projections for the future (Hawkey, 2017). This case provides an opportunity for students to consider exit strategy planning and how to establish a fair market price for a business, how to consider the value of good will and, in particular, the value associated with running an environmentally conscious bakery operation. The trend toward environmental responsibility and green practices in the small business community has started to have an impact on the value of small companies (Inc. 2021). Finally, the case raises the issue of the personal values of the owners and the related implication of finding a buyer with similar values and interests for a bakery business. Research methodology This case was field researched and the company and individuals are not disguised. One of the authors interviewed the two owners of The Royal Bakery. There were three interviews over a six-month period. The interviews were audio recorded. An ethical review for this research was completed at the co-authors’ institution, and a case release was signed. Case overview/synopsis The Royal Bay Bakery presents Dave Grove and Gwen Snyder who, with over 30 years in the bakery business, had started to consider next steps toward retirement. Royal Bay Bakery was profitable and growing. As they prepared to retire and sell the business, they were unsure about how to maximize the value of the business. They also wanted to find a buyer who would recognize and continue their business commitment to environmental and social sustainability. Complexity academic level This case may be taught in a class on exit strategies for small family businesses in the context of a small business course. This case is appropriate for both undergraduate seniors and graduate students. The case may be used to help students understand small business valuation, family ownership and exit strategies and environmental practices in small businesses. Instructors may choose to emphasize specific conceptual tools, including SWOT analysis, and business valuation. The case may also be used to reinforce applications of exit strategy for small, family-owned businesses.

Who talks about what? Issue strategies across the party hierarchy

AbstractWe combine the recent literature on issue competition with work on intra‐party heterogeneity to advance a novel theoretical argument. Starting from the premise that party leaders and non‐leaders have different motivations and incentives, we conjecture that issue strategies should vary across the party hierarchy. We, therefore, expect systematic intra‐party differences in the use ofriding the waveandissue ownershipstrategies. We test this claim by linking public opinion data to manually coded information on over 3600 press releases issued by over 500 party actors across five election campaigns in Austria between 2006 and 2019. We account for self‐selection into leadership roles by exploiting transitions into and out of leadership status over time. The results show that party leaders are more likely than non‐leaders to respond to the public's issue priorities, but not more or less likely to pursue issue‐ownership strategies.

The pricing of corporate real estate holdings on the UK capital market

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to find out if corporate real estate ownership is priced into the capital market performance of non-property companies in the UK. This is of particular interest because ownership still represents a significant weight on the balance sheets and is predominantly considered unfavourable due to its bulkiness and difficult revisability in the event of changes in space demand. This draws attention to the UK as one of the most important European economies that have been exposed to strong uncertainties and dynamics, for example, due to the withdrawal voting of the United Kingdom from the European Union (BREXIT).Design/methodology/approachA first look at the real estate assets reported in balance sheets provides insight into possible changes in ownership strategy. This serves as a basis for subdividing companies based on their real estate assets using a portfolio-based approach and that are then analysed using the Fama and French multi-factor model with regard to their influence on capital market returns.FindingsIn general, the share of real estate assets has fallen over the past 10 years, although coinciding with BREXIT voting, some industries such as manufacturing show a turnaround. At the same time, ownership is priced in as a factor on the capital market, which applies to a sample across industries, as well as to separately considered sectors in the manufacturing and service industries. The pricing also shows a counter-cyclical pattern.Practical implicationsCorporate real estate management should be aware of the negative influence of ownership, especially against the background of economic fluctuations. The reduction of ownership can reduce the associated cost of capital and increase company success.Originality/valuePrevious UK-related studies mostly refer to a period before the global economic crisis in 2008, and therefore, are too old to reflect a changed view on corporate real estate ownership because of new corporate environmental conditions, based on inaccurate proxies or mainly refer to the retail segment. This research gap is closed.

Applying Responsible Ownership to Advance SDGs and the ESG Framework, Resulting in the Issuance of Green Bonds

This study aimed to contribute to the strand of literature encompassing governance, sustainability, and stakeholder theory by addressing an inchoate element of responsible ownership: collective action by different stakeholders. Our study’s originality rests on the introduction of an ownership strategy as a governance mechanism for collective action and responsible ownership in order to implement the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and an environmental, social, and governance (ESG) framework. Using a twofold empirical methodology—studying of archival data and qualitative case work—we provide empirical evidence from a case study of a Nordic energy company showing that applying an ownership strategy helped to strengthen the approach to SDGs and ESG while leading to positive benefits: in this case, the issuance of green bonds. Our theoretical contribution is the addressing of a gap in the literature exploring how an ownership strategy can be a uniting point for collective action, based on the hypothesis that an ownership strategy provides an important reinforcement of a “virtuous cycle”. Policymakers who are interested in promoting long-term commitment of different stakeholders with a focus on sustainability and improved agency should encourage the formulation of an ownership strategy that explains the owners’ commitment to the environment, social causes, and/or governance guidelines. Therein lies the practical contribution of this work. In this study, we found that an ownership strategy with these elements helped to strengthen the firm’s commitment to SDGs and ESG.

Why do state-owned utilities become subject to financial logics? The case of energy distribution in Flanders

According to political economists, the state’s governance of infrastructure is becoming prone to processes of financialization. To date, however, research on how state owners of infrastructure enable and react to the entry of financial logics into such domains remains limited. This paper mobilizes the case of Eandis, a Flemish energy grid company, as a typical case to examine the causal mechanisms involved when state-owned utilities become subject to financial logics. During the 2000s, Flemish municipalities increased their ownership of Eandis, while the company deepened its debt exposure to optimize return on capital. In 2016, Eandis aimed to attract private financial equity and selected a Chinese investment fund as a potential co-shareholder. Although this buy-in was blocked, the conditions under which the state-owned company became increasingly entangled with financial markets remain unchanged and warrant a deeper examination. To explain this trajectory, we identify two causal mechanisms in the fields of market-making and ownership strategies by the multiscalar state. First, we show how regulatory models caused Eandis to focus on financial metrics such as credit ratings, subjecting management to financial market disciplines. Second, we find that budgetary constraints, combined with top-down utility governance, have made municipalities dependent on financial returns on utilities. The interaction between market-making and financial ownership strategies institutionalizes a financialized gridlock, in which municipal shareholders’ interests conflict with the need for low consumer fees and green grid investment. We argue that reforming the regulatory framework and strengthening fiscal solidarity across state layers would allow states to develop non-financialized strategies.

Making sense of firms for ocean governance

Making sense of firms for ocean governance

Political animosity in cross-border acquisitions: EMNCs’ market and nonmarket strategy in a developed market

PurposeMany multinational corporations that originate from emerging economies (emerging market multinational corporations (EMNCs)) opt for acquiring a target firm in a developed market to expediently upgrade their strategic capabilities. To successfully achieve their strategic goals in the developed markets, EMNCs may use market actions and nonmarket actions to mitigate the potential risk derived from the national political differences between their home emerging economy and host developed economy. This paper aims to extend the legitimacy-based view of political risk to study the influence of political animosity – defined as misalignment of the host-home countries’ national interests – on the EMNCs’ market and nonmarket strategy in a developed market.Design/methodology/approachIn this paper, we examine all EMNCs that made cross-border acquisitions of the USA targets from 2005 to 2011. The final sample consists of 252 acquisitions originating from 25 emerging markets. This paper used Tobit regression analysis to test the direct and moderating hypotheses.FindingsFacing a high level of political animosity between their home country and the host developed economy, EMNCs use a market strategy by acquiring less ownership stake in the developed market, as well as engage in a nonmarket strategy by increasing lobbying activities. In addition, because of the heightened legitimacy concerns of developed market shareholders, cross-listed EMNCs have a greater tendency than non-cross-listed EMNCs to improve their legitimacy through their market and nonmarket strategy.Originality/valueThe current paper sheds light on EMNCs’ international strategy in developed markets by examining both market and nonmarket actions. EMNCs are shown to be strongly motivated to engage in acquisitions in developed markets so they can acquire invaluable strategic resources, such as brands and distribution channels, to compete with the developed market multinationals. A sophisticated ownership strategy and corporate political activities are invaluable for EMNCs to catch up with developed market multinationals.

A fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis of ownership strategy and acquisition performance in cross-border acquisitions

Based on a survey database of cross-border acquisitions by Chinese private firms, this study uses a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to explore the holistic impact of acquisition ownership, organizational factors and environmental factors on acquisition performance in cross-border acquisitions. It is found that the cross-border acquisitions taken by Chinese private enterprises have four kinds of acquisition ownership strategies leading to high acquisition performance under different internal and external conditions. This study points out that ownership strategy is a key decision affecting cross-border acquisition performance and provides a variety of paths leading to the same outcome rather than just finding the linear relationship between corporate activity and performance. This study supports the assumption of equivalence, and reveals a variety of scenarios in which cross-border acquisition ownership contributes to the outcome of high cross-border acquisition performance, and further confirms the view of causal asymmetry between condition and outcome. This study reveals whether the proportion of cross-border acquisition ownership affects cross-border acquisition performance and under what circumstances is conducive to the realization of expected cross-border acquisition performance.

Ownership Strategy and Bank Performance – Evidence from Vietnam

Ownership Strategy and Bank Performance – Evidence from Vietnam

THE IMPACT OF STRUCTURAL CHANGES ON CORPORATE REAL ESTATE OWNERSHIP: EVIDENCE FROM GERMANY

Although real estate resources represent a high percentage of the corporate assets of non-property companies, their future role is unclear. Longevity and difficulty in revising property-related decisions clash under dynamically changing environmental conditions. This makes it necessary to consider the ownership strategy and its altering role in order to avoid inefficiencies and not to hinder companies in mastering structural change successfully. In a first step, data from a telephone company survey (CATI) among 69 corporate real estate managers of German companies are grouped by performing a two-step cluster analysis according to the degree to which they are affected by structural change. The resulting clusters are then tested regarding differences in their ownership strategy. The empirical analysis shows that firms highly affected by structural change exhibit a higher willingness to decrease the proportion of ownership. The decline in real estate assets is particularly evident in the office segment and in increased acceptance of sale-and-rent-back solutions. First hints show that structural change and associated new business requirements change the relevance of CRE ownership. To avoid competitive disadvantages, especially European firms should scrutinize their high ownership ratios.

THE IMPACT OF THE INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK QUALITY ON THE OWNERSHIP STRATEGY. EVIDENCE FROM EU FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENTS IN SOUTH AND CENTRAL EASTERN EUROPE

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is considered by scholars as a critical factor for economic growth and development. The recent economic crisis in the European Union (EU) has brought up again the discussion of the key drivers specific to the attraction of FDI. In addition to strict economic factor, the literature emphasises the role of institutions in a country as determinants in attracting FDI inflows. This study is one of the first to address the ownership strategy of multinational enterprises from the EU region undertaking FDI in former transitional economies in South (SEE) and Central Eastern Europe (CEE) using the concept of the quality of institutions. An analysis of the impact that the quality of market supporting institutions in determining ownership structure has of foreign affiliates in former transitional economies is attempted using an econometric model on institutional, regulatory, country specific and company level data based on a sample of 285 EU companies undertook FDI in 4 South and Central Eastern European countries during 1995-2015. We apply and advance the institution-based view of strategy by integrating it with resource-based and transaction cost considerations, incorporating three of the most important theoretical paradigms of international business studies.

Birds of a feather flock together: ownership in cross-border acquisitions by emerging multinationals

PurposeDespite prior studies on cross-border acquisitions (CBAs) have analyzed the determinants of ownership strategies; there is still a quest for evidence on how the differences between home and host market characteristics affect the ownership percentage. Prior studies have acknowledged that entering host countries with greater uncertainty makes multinationals reluctant to acquire high levels of ownership. Nevertheless, emerging multinationals (EMNEs) are usually used to operating under greater levels of uncertainty than multinationals from advanced countries (AMNEs), which can imply different ownership strategies. The purpose of this study is to analyze the ownership percentage acquired by MNEs when designing a CBA in emerging or in advanced countries, and to analyze the extent to which the ownership strategy in emerging countries differs between EMNEs and AMNEs.Design/methodology/approachMobile telecommunications industry is used as research setting to provide empirical evidence of the interaction effect of the advanced versus emerging nature of the host and home countries on the ownership acquired in CBAs.FindingsResults confirm that both home and host countries' characteristics are relevant in explaining the ownership strategies of MNEs.Originality/valueThe authors contribute to the strategy and IB literatures by providing empirical evidence on the recent debate on whether the internationalization strategies followed by EMNEs are similar to the traditional patterns of AMNEs, and analyze how EMNEs differ from AMNEs in their ownership strategies in emerging countries. Focusing in the mobile telecommunications industry, the authors also contribute by extending the analysis to an international and cross-cultural setting that includes 48 mobile groups that come from 35 home and 81 host countries.

朝鲜“并进”外交政策及中朝关系 -金正日执政后期为中心-

The 17-year-leadership of Kim Jong Il, started from his election as Chairman of the North Korean National Defense Committee, could be divided into four periods, namely, the leadership under the guide of the will period; the pre-administration period; the mid-administration period; and the late-administration period. This paper aims to analyze the “Byungjin” foreign policy and China-DPRK relations pursued by North Korea in the late Kim Jong-il’s administration from the perspective of the assumptions of North Korea’s implementation of the nuclear-holding strategy and effectuation of the nuclear issue as the main theme of great power game. The late Kim Jong Il administration was in the transition period of the regime of successor system. Although DPRK achieved the staged goal of the nuclear ownership strategy with the success of two nuclear tests, the national security situation was still grim. In order to successfully complete the transition of the regime and implement the “powerful and prosperous” national strategy, North Korea adopted “Byungjin approach” in both interior and foreign affairs. Concerning the interior affairs, on the basis of adhering to “military-first politics”, more attention was paid to economic development and the improvement of people’s livelihood. As to the foreign affairs, focuses were on both the “nuclear diplomacy” and “economy diplomacy”, that is, the “Byungjin approach”. On the one hand, the nuclear diplomacy strategy was continuously advanced, and the “Brinkmanship” strategy and the off “Six-Party Talks” mechanism were carried on to defend the results of nuclear tests against such countries as the United States, South Korea, Japan and others with regard to the North Korean nuclear issue. On the other hand, the economic factors in foreign activities were paid due attention to. The economy-promoting-governance policy was taken to promote the economic-diplomatic relations between the friendly countries such as China and Russia; and to improve the relations with the United States, Japan, and South Korea, aiming at the economic benefits. In the process of implementing the “Byungjin” foreign policy, Kim Jong Il personally promoted the development of DPRK-China relations, actively sought a foreign policy with the political support and economic cooperation as the core with China, so as to elevate Sino-DPRK relations to a strategic height and a long-term prospect. To strengthen the political support and economic cooperation and assistance from China, Kim Jong Il administration maintained close communication by way of high-level exchanges on the matters of DPRK nuclear issue and others, and promoted mutual trust and reciprocal cooperation continuously. Taking the event of “PRC-DPRK Friendship Year” as an opportunity, the economic and trade cooperation were enhanced, and the cultural exchanges were enlivened. After the trial of North Korean nuclear tests, the new type of neighborly, friendly and cooperative state-to-state relations have been further developed.

Impact Signals: A Study on Emerging Market Multinationals’ Ownership Strategies in Advanced Markets

Drawing on signaling and institutional theory, we perform an analysis of emerging market multinational enterprises’ ownership strategies in advanced markets. Specifically, we claim that experience-related information, i.e. signals, disseminated by the acquirer will decrease information asymmetry on the target side of the deal, leading to majority acquisitions. Furthermore, we find that informal institutional distances decreases the positive impact of signals and formal institutional distance further decreases the negative impact of signals, enhancing our understanding of the boundary conditions of the signal environment as well as how emerging market acquirers can navigate their actions in advanced markets. We rely on a dataset of over 2,000 acquisitions undertaken by acquirers from emerging markets in advanced markets during the period 1999-2017.

Corporate real estate holdings and the stock market performance

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of corporate real estate (CRE) holdings on firm performance. Unlike previous studies, the paper does not only consider the firms’ primary business segment but also their activities in different business fields. This is of particular interest because additional segments often have different requirements for the provision of space and thus for the ownership strategy, which could have led to a possible bias in previous studies. Furthermore, additional business areas are becoming more relevant through integrated solutions.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses a balance sheet data set of companies in the six largest European economies for the period from 2000 to 2016. Germany serves as a suitable laboratory for deeper analyses. Holdings of 490 firms are regressed to the stock market performance using a two-stage approach. This procedure is repeated by considering additional business segments.FindingsThe analyses reveal that ownership reduces stock market performance. Additional business activities also appear to influence the relevance of ownership for firm performance.Practical implicationsThe research shows that ownership is priced depending on its primary and additional business activities. First, this insight helps capital market players to choose the right investment strategy. Second, it provides CRE decision-makers with information on the optimal provision of real estate.Originality/valueThis is the first paper to examine the contribution of real estate ownership on firm performance in light of the fact that companies operate in more than one sector.

The inter-Islamic competition and the shift in al-Nur party stance towards civil state in Egypt

ABSTRACT Why did al-Nur Salafi party change its stance towards civil state? This study problematizes al-Nur party’s discourse on civil state after 25 January and 3 July in emphasis of its ideological shift in different political contexts. Based on the political parties’ competition strategies, this study argues that changes in al-Nur party’s discourse towards civil state are due to its adoption of different competition strategies vis-à-vis the Muslim Brothers after 25 January and 3 July. Unlike the literature addressing the Islamists’ ideological revisions, this paper argues that al-Nur party adopted the issue ownership strategy in order to highlight its ideological specificity vis-à-vis the Brothers’ Freedom and Justice Party after 25 January. After 3 July, the party shifted to the wave-riding strategy in compliance with public anti-Islamic feelings in order to take over the political vacuum left after the ban of and the crackdown on the Brothers. By relying on the Critical Discourse Analysis methodology, this study examines the shift in al-Nur party’s stance towards civil state in the party’s official statements and websites during elections and constitutional referendums after 25 January and 3 July.

Assessing the Role of Host Country Human Rights Protection on Multinational Enterprises’ Choice of Investment Strategy

Although international business studies have examined the role of non-market factors in multinational enterprises’ (MNEs) foreign ownership, there is a limited focus on the role of host country human rights records on MNEs’ ownership decisions. Further, there is little understanding of the differences in ownership decisions between the developed country multinational enterprises (DMNEs) and emerging-market multinational enterprises (EMNEs) as influenced by the non-market context of their host countries. This study, therefore, explores the links between the host country’s human rights governance and MNEs’ ownership strategy in cross-border acquisitions. We argue that clarity in human rights governance in the host country will encourage MNEs to establish higher stakes in local targets and that this relationship will be stronger for DMNEs than for EMNEs. Our findings, which support these hypotheses, offer insights into the relationship between MNE investment strategy and human rights governance, and inform the debate on the differences between internationalization strategies of EMNEs and DMNEs.