Juan Francisco Martín-Ugedo

Firm Performance and Women on the Board: Evidence from Spanish Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

ABSTRACT This study examines gender diversity on boards of directors in a sample of nonfinancial Spanish small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for 2003–8, finding that the probability of women on the board increases with firm performance, defined as return on assets, and family ownership, but diminishes with corporate ownership and firm risk. It also finds, when examining the full sample, a positive effect of the presence of women board members on firm performance. The study also obtains a similar positive effect in most subsamples, including in firms with corporate ownership, where family connections play less role in the election of board members, and in firms in the secondary and tertiary sectors, which are characterized by having greater proximity to final consumers than those in the primary sector.

Are the implications of the financial growth cycle confirmed for Spanish SMEs

The aim of this paper is to analyze whether some of the empirical implications of the financial growth cycle hold in a sample of Spanish SMEs. We use a sample of 5,944 observations for the year 2007 and test several hypotheses using MANOVA analysis. The results show that companies tend to have different financing structures depending on their age and size. Hypotheses about trade credit, short term debt and risk are confirmed with respect to age, as the younger companies tend to use proportionally more trade credit and short term debt, and are riskier. Size is also associated in the expected way with trade credit, relative trade credit and relative short-term financial debt. On the other hand hypotheses about equity and the financing deficit are not confirmed. The effect of a pecking order behaviour over a long period of time may provide an explanation of why these two hypotheses are not confirmed.

Executive directors' compensation and monitoring: the influence of gender diversity on Spanish boards

AbstractThis study presents evidence of the influence of gender diversity on the pay system and the monitoring of executives in Spain. In this country/context, characterized by a few male dominant shareholders acting simultaneously as executives, there is an ongoing discussion regarding the enactment of laws to promote gender equality on the boards of directors of large listed companies. This paper presents several contributions. On the one hand, the scarce previous evidence on this topic is focused on US firms. On the other hand, this study includes the role of ownership structure as a factor that indirectly moderates the relationships between gender diversity on board and monitoring effectiveness in terms of executive directors’ compensation. Furthermore, this paper makes an important effort to control endogeneity. The sample examined includes 120 companies listed on the Spanish stock market during the period 2004–2011. The results show a positive and highly significant effect of the presence of women i...

Women Mayors and Management of Spanish Councils: An Empirical Analysis

ABSTRACT This paper analyzes the relationship between the gender of mayors in Spanish local government and different budget items. It uses a sample of local budgets for 8,112 town councils between 2002 and 2010, totaling 64,361 observations. The Spanish context is characterized by decentralization of public responsibility to a greater extent than in neighboring countries, feeding the debate on the operational efficiency of local government and the importance of gender in public management. Results show that councils with women mayors have lower annual interest and debt repayment obligations and have higher expenditure on security, protection, and social promotion. Thus, the presence of women in politics may serve to improve councils’ economic situations, which is necessary not only for social justice but also for economic efficiency. In addition, in councils with more inhabitants, women mayors are more common, but women are less likely to occupy the office for longer periods.

Female CEOs, Returns and Risk in Spanish Publishing Firms

This study examines the influence of CEO gender on returns and risk for a sample of 2,157 Spanish publishing firms in 2013. The publishing sector is relevant in Spain, in terms of output, because of its positive contribution to the cultural sectors trade balance and also because it plays a key strategic role in a knowledge-based society. Previous evidence suggests that women in senior management position affect the performance of firms and also the level of risk that the firm is exposed to. Our results show that publishing companies whose CEO is female have greater returns. This result is observed when both the return on assets and the return on equity are considered as the dependent variable. When we focus on risk, we find a lower debt level and lower financial leverage when the CEO is a woman.

Are the Implications of the Financial Growth Cycle Confirmed in a Civil Law Context? Evidence from Spanish SMEs

The aim of this paper is to analyze whether some of the empirical implications of the financial growth cycle hold in a sample of Spanish SMEs. We use a sample of 5,944 observations for the year 2007 and test several hypotheses using MANOVA analysis. The results show that companies tend to have different financing structures depending on their age and size. Hypotheses about trade credit, short term debt and risk are confirmed with respect to age, as the younger companies tend to use proportionally more trade credit and short term debt, and are riskier. Size is also associated in the expected way with trade credit, relative trade credit and relative short-term financial debt. On the other hand hypotheses about equity and the financing deficit are not confirmed. The effect of pecking order behaviour over a long period of time may provide an explanation of why these two hypotheses are not confirmed.

New Evidence on the Pecking Order Theory for the Spanish Case

This paper analyses some of the empirical implications of the pecking order theory in the Spanish market using a panel data analysis of 1,566 firms over 1994-2000. The results show that the pecking order theory holds for most subsamples analyzed, particularly for the small and medium-sized enterprises and for the high-growth and highly leveraged companies. It is also shown that both the more and the less leveraged firms tend to converge towards more balanced capital structures. Finally, we observe that firms finance their funds flow deficits with long term debt.