Igor Filatotchev

An Organizational Approach to Comparative Corporate Governance: Costs, Contingencies, and Complementarities

This paper develops an organizational approach to corporate governance and assesses the effectiveness of corporate governance and implications for policy. Most corporate governance research focuses on a universal link between corporate governance practices (e.g., board structure, shareholder activism) and performance outcomes, but neglects how interdependencies between the organization and diverse environments lead to variations in the effectiveness of different governance practices. In contrast to such closed systems approaches, we propose a framework based on open systems approaches to organizations, which examines these organizational interdependencies in terms of the costs, contingencies, and complementarities of different corporate governance practices. These three sets of organizational factors are useful in analyzing the effectiveness of corporate governance in diverse organizational environments. We also explore the impact of costs, contingencies, and complementarities on the effectiveness of different governance aspects through the use of stylized cases and discuss the implications for different approaches to policy such as soft law or hard law.

Emerging Multinationals from Mid‐Range Economies: The Influence of Institutions and Factor Markets

This paper revisits and extends our earlier work (in 2005) in the pages of this journal. We argue that there is a need for more fine-grained understanding of the country context along two dimensions: (1) institutional development and (2) infrastructure and factor market development. Specifically, we propose an enriched typology of emerging economies with a focus on mid-range emerging economies, which are positioned between traditional emerging economies and newly developed economies. Then we examine new multinationals from these mid-range emerging economies that have internationalized both regionally and globally. We outline directions for further research based on this typology in terms of (1) government influence, (2) resource orchestration, (3) market entry, and (4) corporate governance regarding the internationalization strategy of these emerging multinationals from mid-range economies.

Governance, ownership structure, and performance of IPO firms: the impact of different types of private equity investors and institutional environments

This paper examines performance effects of ownership concentration and two types of private equity investors (venture capitalists and business angels) in firms that have recently undergone an initial public offering (IPO) in the United Kingdom and France. We expand and contextualize nascent understanding of multiple agency theory by examining heterogeneity of private equity investors and by suggesting that multiple agency relationships are affected by different institutional contexts. We employ a unique, hand-collected dataset of 224 matched IPOs (112 in each country). Controlling for the endogeneity of private equity investors’ retained share ownership, we find support for the agency theory argument that concentrated ownership improves IPO’s performance. The research also shows that the two types of private equity investors have a differential impact on performance, and the legal institutions in a given country moderate this impact.

Downsizing in Privatized Firms in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus

Combinig an agency perspective and downsizing research, in this study we examined two influences on employment-downsizing strategies in privatized firms in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine: corporate governance and institutional change initiated by business crisis, in turn attributable to industry and country factors. In line with theoretical predictions, the study shows that downsizing is strongly influenced by industry-specific factors, and it is positively associated with outside, noninstitutional shareholding. However, a firms ability to downsize is negatively associated with the extent of managerial shareholding, a finding consistent with managerial entrenchment.

Returnee Entrepreneurs, Science Park Location Choice and Performance: An Analysis of High-Technology SMEs in China

Building on an asset complementarity perspective, human capital and social capital measures are used to examine the science park location decisions of returnee entrepreneurs and the performance of their ventures. The study uses a unique, hand–collected data set of 349 SMEs from Zhongguancun Science Park in China, including 53 SMEs from locations administered by universities. The article considers the antecedents of university and nonuniversity science park location and firm growth with a view to drawing conclusions that go beyond the specific context of Beijing and China. Its findings include the tendency for returning entrepreneurs with academic knowledge in the form of patents transferred from abroad to locate in nonuniversity science parks, and for those with previous firm ownership abroad to choose university science parks. The firms of returnees with patents from abroad enjoyed stronger employment growth in nonuniversity science parks and those with commercial experience abroad with MNCs performed better in university science parks. This evidence is consistent with the view that returning entrepreneurs seek complementary (academic and commercial) assets in their location decisions, although some inconsistencies with this view are also discussed.

The firm's strategic dynamics and corporate governance life‐cycle

Purpose – The paper seeks to present a novel conceptual framework that integrates the strategic dynamics of the firm with changes in its governance systems. Design/methodology/approach – The agency research agenda is extended to include other corporate governance roles, such as resource and strategy functions, alongside monitoring and control functions. Theoretical arguments are supported by empirical data related to the founder-manager/IPO, IPO/maturity, maturity/decline and reinvention thresholds. Findings – The paper shows that corporate governance parameters may be linked to strategic thresholds in the firms life-cycle. Successful transition over a threshold is accompanied by a rebalancing in the structure and roles of corporate governance compared with each previous stage in the cycle. Research limitations/implications – In the absence of longitudinal data relating to firms as they pass through all life-cycle stages the study has been restricted to reporting illustrative data from different studies regarding each strategic threshold. Further research might usefully undertake detailed long-term case studies using a combination of archival and interview data to trace the evolution of firms across the four thresholds. Originality/value – This paper develops a novel conceptual framework that integrates the strategic dynamics of the firm with changes in its governance systems. It rejects the notion of a universal governance template and argues that corporate governance parameters may be linked to transitions from one stage to another in the firms life-cycle. Accordingly, it argues that changes in a firms strategic positioning may be associated with rebalancing between the wealth-protection and wealth-creation functions of governance.

Privatization, Insider Control and Managerial Entrenchment in Russia

This paper provides new survey evidence on managerial entrenchment and the role of outsiders in the post-privatization restructuring of Russian enterprises. The major findings are that managers are hostile towards outside ownership, and they effectively collude with other employees to preserve insider control. The paper also provides empirical evidence that the gradual accumulation of shares by managers is not based only on a profit motive, but is also driven by their efforts to preserve insider control. The issues raised have relevance to other transition economies where the privatization process has encouraged insider control, such as Ukraine and Belarus.

Agency Perspectives on Corporate Governance of Multinational Enterprises

This paper argues for a greater focus on an agency theory (AT) perspective in understanding corporate governance in multinational enterprises (MNEs) since, despite recent developments, the traditional internalization theory approach limits our understanding of the behaviour of these firms. We analyse the contribution of an AT perspective to understanding various aspects of corporate governance in MNEs: internationalization, international joint ventures (IJVs), headquarters–subsidiary relationships, and new forms of global business groups. From this analysis, we suggest that even with the emerging AT literatures focus on the role of ownership as a key governance factor, there is substantial need for research on several key corporate governance mechanisms; namely, the role and nature of dominant owners, the composition of boards of directors, the separation of CEOs and board chairs, executive remuneration, and the role of the market for corporate control. There is scope to examine further the implications of different institutional environments for AT perspectives on the behaviour of MNEs.

Corporate Governance, Strategy and Survival in a Declining Industry: A Study of UK Cotton Textile Companies

Building on the strategic flexibility perspective, this paper examines the influences of organizational diversity, ownership structure and board characteristics on strategic responses to industrial decline in firms from the UK textile industry. Using samples of exiting and surviving companies it shows that, in line with the predictions of the strategic flexibility framework, the surviving companies tended to have a higher level of organizational diversity. They also tended to have larger institutional ownership and more diverse boards. These factors are associated with higher investment, financial performance, and growth. The results are consistent with the resource and service roles of the corporate governance factors. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2003.

Corporate Restructuring In Russian Privatizations: Implications For U.S. Investors

In a short period of time, the privatization of Russian enterprises has been extensive. The process has been successful in meeting important political objectives to establish an irreversible base of individual share ownership through the rapid transfer of vast numbers of enterprises to the private sector. However, major questions remain with regard to the impact of privatization on efficiency and the successful transition to economically viable enterprises. This article investigates governance and managerial characteristics of 171 Russian buy-out firms both before and after the privatization program that occurred between 1992 and 1994. The program has resulted in significantly lower employment levels, increased training, little investment, but increased equity ownership. These changes may enable managers to effect some additional changes, but more recalcitrant organizations will have to await the development of more robust competition and improved systems of corporate governance.