Call for papers: Globalization of Capital Markets

Journal of International Management Special Issue Call for Papers

GLOBALIZATION OF CAPITAL MARKETS: IMPLICATIONS FOR FIRM STRATEGIES

GUEST EDITORS

• Igor Filatotchev, City University London and Vienna University of Economics and Business
• R. Greg Bell, University of Dallas
• Abdul A. Rasheed, University of Texas at Arlington

Submission Deadline: May 15, 2015

The increasing integration of global capital markets now makes it easier for firms to access capital outside of their home countries. Firms access international capital markets through a variety of means such as initial public offerings (IPO), seasoned equity offerings (SEO), cross-listings, depository receipts, special purpose acquisition companies (SPACS), shelf offerings, private equity and other informal equity capital channels. Firms can also access debt resources outside their market through bank loans, and foreign bond issues. Finally, cross border flows of venture capital (VC) continue to increase rapidly. The objective of this Special Issue will be to explore the challenges firms face in capital markets beyond their domestic boundaries, be it equity, debt, or VC markets.

While IB research continues to evaluate the challenges facing firms in foreign product markets, IB scholars have yet to adequately address the underlying reasons why firms face challenges in foreign equity markets. These include underpricing, higher underwriting and professional fees, higher listing fees, audit fees (Bronson, Ghosh, and Hogan, 2009), and greater risk of lawsuits (Bhattacharya, Galpin, and Haslem, 2007), and home bias on the part of investors (French and Poterba, 1991). Further, research suggests the existence of a “foreign firm discount” relative to host market firms (Frésard and Salva, 2010).

Venture capital and private equity have truly become global phenomena and take many forms such as cross-border investment, foreign acquisitions, VC firms opening offices overseas, and influencing their portfolio firms to enter and exit international stock exchanges. Foreign firms raise significantly more debt than equity in the U.S.. Indeed, the largest component of the international capital market is the bond market.

Research on the motivation, the processes, the supporting mechanisms, and the range of outcomes that firms experience as a result of entering international capital markets is extremely limited so far. We believe such research can draw from a variety of theoretical perspectives and research traditions in international business. The choice of whether to access financial resources outside of the firm’s home market, how to select the appropriate foreign market, and the manner in which to raise resources are all relevant questions that parallel prior IB research market and entry mode choice. IB scholars consider LOF as the “fundamental assumption driving theories of the multinational enterprise” (Zaheer, 1995: 341). Yet, the conceptualization and research on LOF solely based upon product market may be inadequate today given the increasing integration of capital markets (Bell, Filatotchev and Rasheed, 2012).

In addition to the main theoretical perspectives in international business, the Special Issue welcomes scholars and perspectives from diverse disciplines such as finance, economics, and sociology.

TOPICS

The interaction between product market and capital market strategies
Prior research shows that the decision to list abroad has implications on the success of the firm’s products. What are the implications of capital market strategies for product market strategies and vice versa?

• Culture and capital markets

There is a growing body of research that investigates how culture affects both economic exchange and outcomes by affecting expectations and preferences (Guiso, Sapienza, and Zingales, 2009). How does culture affect cross-border transactions in formal or informal capital markets?

• The role of distance

Even in a world where technology has shrunk distance and time, spatial costs are non-trivial. Do spatial costs exist in financial markets? Moreover, do spatial costs impact capital market strategies, and the choice of foreign capital markets?

• The role of innovation

Financial markets are continuously producing new vehicles through which firms can acquire capital resources. What are the antecedents of innovations in global capital markets? How do firms take advantage of these innovations?

• Institutional environments and their implications on capital market strategies

New exchanges in Europe and Asia with vastly different listing and disclosure requirements thank New York and London. How has the competition among stock exchanges impacted the international capital raising strategies of firms?

• Liabilities of Foreignness

What are the sources of Liabilities of Foreignness (LOF) that firms face in formal or informal capital markets and what are the strategies that enable firms to overcome them?

• Informal capital market strategies

Private equity represents an innovation in the ability to provide capital to unquoted firms. What are challenges that private equity firms face in international markets? Likewise, what are the challenges that private equity portfolio firms face?

• Governance and capital market strategies

To what extent does internationalization of capital markets lead to convergence of governance practices across countries??

• The role of trust

Trust has been found to affect the international investment choices of private equity firms (Bruton, Ahlstrom, and Puky, 2009). How does trust impact the international capital market strategies of firms?

• Third parties and capital market strategies

Capital markets are mediated markets in that sense that participants rely greatly on key third parties, such as investment banks, brokers, and investment analysts for information production. How do third parties impact the choice of foreign capital markets? What are the internationalization strategies that these third parties pursue?

• Processes

What are the top management and board factors that impact capital market strategies? Both individual and team level factors hold considerable promise providing greater insights into the reasons why firms choose capital resources outside of their home market, and the manner in which these resources are accessed.

• Performance

What accounts for success in foreign capital markets? How do strategies for firms seeking debt capital differ from those seeking equity? How do home and host country factors determine the outcome of these strategies?

While many of the firms that make their initial public offerings go on to succeed, what is often overlooked is the fact that more than half of these firms actually delist within the first few years (Doidge, Karolyi, and Stulz, 2010). What are the factors that account for the delisting of firms on foreign exchanges?

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

The deadline for manuscript submission is May 15, 2015. Manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with Journal of International Management’s Style Guide for Authors:http://www.elsevier.com/journals/journal-of-international-management/1075-4253/guide-for-authors and submitted through the Journal’s submission website. A paper development workshop will be held at the 2015 Academy of Management conference in Vancouver. Final Drafts are due February 28, 2016.
Please direct any questions regarding the Special Issue to Igor Filatotchev (Igor.Filatotchev@city.ac.uk), Greg Bell (gbell@udallas.edu) and Abdul Rasheed (abdul@uta.edu).

REFERENCES

Bell, R. G., Filatotchev, I., Rasheed, A. 2012. The liability of foreignness in capital markets: Sources and remedies. Journal of International Business Studies, 43(2): 107-122.
Bhattacharya, U., Galpin, N., Haslem, B. 2007. The home court advantage in international corporate litigation. Journal of Law and Economics, 50: 625-659.
Bruton, G., Ahlstrom, D., Puky, T. 2009. Institutional differences and the development of entrepreneurial ventures: A comparison of the venture capital industries in Latin America and Asia. Journal of International Business Studies, 40: 762-778.
Doidge, C., Karolyi, A., Stulz, R., 2010. Why do foreign firms leave U.S. equity markets? Journal of Finance 65, 1507-1553.
French, K., Poterba, J. 1991. Investor diversification and international equity markets. The American Economic Review, 81(2): 222-226
Frésard, L., Salva, C. 2010. The foreign firm discount. Working Paper, HEC School of Management, HEC Paris.
Guiso, L., Sapienza, P., Zingales, L. 2009. Cultural biases in economic exchange? Quarterly Journal of Economics, 124(3): 1095–1131.
Schmeisser, B. 2013. A systematic review of literature on offshoring of value chain activities. Journal of International Management, 19(4), 390-406.
Zaheer, S. 1995. Overcoming the liability of foreignness. Academy of Management Journal, 38(2): 341-363.

Call for conference papers: ‘Restoring Trust in Business through Corporate Governance’

Call for Proposals – Inaugural ICGS Conference
‘Restoring Trust in Business through Corporate Governance’
September 18-19, 2015 at the Copenhagen Business School

In our information-based economy, the reputation of a business is essential to its success and survival. The trust of investors, consumers, employees, and the general public as well as regulators can have a direct and profound effect on a company’s bottom line and even its viability. Recently, the importance of reputation has become apparent, as companies such as JP Morgan, BP, and Toyota have had to manage their responses to crises in order to maintain or resurrect the reputation of their companies to their stakeholders. Notably, the Pew Research Center recently reported that 78% of Americans believe “too much power is concentrated in the hands of too few corporations.” This perception is not unique to the United States, as discussed by Colin Mayer in his new book entitled, Firm Commitment. Notably, Professor Mayer will be one of our featured keynote speakers. 

The corporate governance system has a major influence on the public’s view of the trustworthiness of business. Each corporate governance system is composed of corporate governance mechanisms that are both external and internal to the firm’s boundaries. Because most external corporate governance mechanisms are regional or national in scope, multinational firms increasingly must deal with transnational corporate governance pressures, which are often not well integrated and conflicting. 

The International Corporate Governance Society (www.icgsociety.org) will focus its inaugural conference on how corporate governance systems work to enhance trust in business, and deepen our understanding of how failures in corporate governance systems degrade trust in business. Due to our inter-disciplinary nature, we think of corporate governance in broad terms – those systems and mechanisms designed to channel corporate power for the well-being of society. As such, corporate social responsibility initiatives and the cultivation of ethical practices fit within our conceptualization of corporate governance as they can be labeled “self-governance” mechanisms. 

We invite you to consider submitting a research proposal that advances our understanding of the antecedents and outcomes of corporate governance systems and practices. The proposal must draw from previously unpublished original research. Well-crafted work in progress is welcome. Specifically, we invite authors to submit a 10,000 (maximum) word research proposal that includes the following sections: (1) Title page: Title of the proposed presentation, author name(s), author affiliation(s,) e-mail address(es), designated conference track (see below), and a 200 to 300 word abstract which describes the essence of your proposal; (2) Extended abstract: Narrative description of the essence of your conceptual or empirical study; and (3) Supporting material: Tables, figures, and references which support the extended abstract. Overall, the proposal should not exceed 10 single-spaced pages in length. Proposals must be submitted by 12 midnight (EST) on March 30, 2015 to conf@icgsociety.org in order to be considered for presentation. 

Each research proposal will be double blind refereed. A decision on your conference submission about its inclusion in the conference program will be provided by May 15, 2015 at the latest. The very best proposals will be invited to submit a full research paper of approximately 30-40 double-spaced pages by July 30, 2015 in order to be considered for the best conference paper award. The author(s) who win this award will be recognized during the conference and receive a $1,500 check provided by the Harold S. Geneen Institute of Corporate Governance. 

CONFERENCE TRACKS. 

 Within each proposal on the title page, the authors should indicate which of the eight tracks in the program their proposal best fits. The conference tracks are listed below. 

• TRACK A: Theme: ‘Restoring Trust in Business through Corporate Governance’. This track explores how trust is antecedent to, related with, and/or generated by corporate governance systems and practices. We will consider all levels of trust or distrust – individual, group, corporate, industry, and national – and we seek to understand how corporate governance is influenced by or influences trust.

• TRACK B: Boards of Directors. Every corporation in the world is led by a board of directors. However, in some nations, corporate boards are vested with great power and responsibility; while in other nations, the board is an impotent pawn. Furthermore, the power and influence of corporate boards often varies within national economies and industries. In this track, we seek to understand the antecedents, processes and effects of boardroom effectiveness. 
• TRACK C: Ownership. Every corporation in the world is also owned by a single or array of investors. These owners have a vested interest in seeing that the corporation is governed well. In this track, we will explore the antecedents and outcomes associated with different ownership profiles throughout the global economy. 
• TRACK D: National Governance Environments. This track focuses on corporate governance mechanisms and outcomes within a single national governance environment. Typically, this governance environment is within a national economy. Multiple governance mechanisms operating within a single governance environment are especially welcome.
• TRACK E: Transnational Governance Environments. In our increasingly global economy, pressure and accountability is exerted from transnational non-governmental institutions. In this track, the antecedents and effects of comparative governance systems is explored. Corporate governance research surrounding the multinational firm fits well in this track.
• TRACK F: Multi-Level Governance Systems. Recent research has shown that corporate governance mechanisms and systems often complement or substitute for each other. Furthermore, all corporate governance practices are embedded within a larger governance system. This track explores research related to corporate governance bundles and the embedded nature of corporate governance. 
• TRACK G: Self-Governance. Rules, regulations, and continuous monitoring by outsiders are the norm for most governance solutions, but they are inflexible and often quite costly. When corporations choose socially-responsible behavior and/or executives possess an internal moral compass that translates into ethically-sound decisions and actions, society often benefits as does the corporation. Thus, this track seeks to understand the potential and limits of self-governance. 
• TRACK H: Teaching Corporate Governance. This track seeks to enhance the teaching of corporate governance within our educational programs. Specifically, we welcome such innovations as new case studies, teaching tips, simulations, experiential exercises that have been used to convey important corporate governance concepts and relationships. In addition, any research related to online education and innovative teaching delivery mechanisms are welcome.