This study investigates the impact of vertical interlock in its listed company's shareholder wealth. This simultaneous appointment of directors to both listed companies and their parent companies is a common practice in many emerging markets. Whereas vertical interlock is designed to enhance control and coordination, it may also enable controlling shareholders to expropriate minority shareholders. Using a sample of Chinese listed companies from 2007 to 2022, we find that the vertically interlocked companies are more prone to engage in related party mergers and acquisitions. Moreover, these transactions lead to lower buy-and-hold abnormal returns subsequently, suggesting that the vertically interlocked directors have facilitated shareholder expropriation through related party mergers and acquisitions. Further empirical analyses consistently indicate that such mergers and acquisitions are characterized by features of minority shareholder expropriation, with the likelihood of expropriation increasing when interlocked directors hold more senior positions within the parent companies.

This study constructs a new mispricing factor for the Chinese equity market. We propose two-, three-, and four-factor models that incorporate this factor alongside the market, size, and value factors. Our models, especially the two-factor version, consistently outperform the Fama and French models and perform as well as other leading models in explaining Chinese anomalies. This study advances asset pricing literature specific to China and offers a promising new framework for analyzing mispricing in emerging markets.

Previous research has established that the risk - return tradeoff of volatility - managed portfolios improves following low - volatility market phases, and conditional multifactor volatility - managed portfolios (CMV) are recognized for their superior performance. In this study, we apply the relevant methodology to 41 countries or regions, obtaining consistent results. Our findings further show that the risk - return tradeoff pattern is affected by both domestic market volatility and that of the US market. Notably, CMV portfolios perform more favorably when US market volatility is factored into the analysis.

Purpose In the global context, artificial intelligence (AI) technology and environmental, social and governance (ESG) have emerged as central drivers facilitating corporate transformation and the business model revolution. This paper aims to investigate whether and how the application of AI enhances the ESG performance of enterprises. Design/methodology/approach This study uses panel data from Chinese A-share listed companies spanning the period from 2012 to 2022. Through a multivariate regression analysis, it examines the impact of AI on the ESG performance of enterprises. Findings The findings suggest that the application of AI in enterprises has a positive impact on ESG performance. Internal control systems within the organization and external information environments act as mediators in the relationship between AI and corporate ESG performance. Furthermore, corporate compliance plays a moderating role in the connection between AI and corporate ESG performance. Originality/value This paper underscores the pivotal role played by AI in enhancing corporate ESG performance. It explores the pathways to improving corporate ESG behavior from the perspectives of internal control and information environments. This discussion holds significant implications for advancing the application of AI in enterprises and enhancing their sustainable governance capabilities.

As artificial intelligence rapidly advances, addressing the interplay of technical, ethical, and risk factors in optimizing digital market decision-making through AI platforms has become increasingly prominent. However, the impact of these factors on market performance, particularly in investment value, remains underexplored. The study, based on 412 validated responses from service industry professionals gathered through a carefully designed questionnaire, aims to predict the relationship among these factors and their influence on market performance. It also explores how cognitive engagement mediates the relationship between AI platforms and financial metrics. Key findings:(1) the interplay of technical, ethical, and risk factors optimizes market decision-making and guides AI investments; (2) cognitive engagement, especially in the services sector, is essential to maximize the impact of AI platforms on market performance. The study provides valuable insights into AI's role in shaping market dynamics within the services sector and relevant governance recommendations for policymakers.

As artificial intelligence rapidly advances, addressing the interplay of technical, ethical, and risk factors in optimizing digital market decision-making through AI platforms has become increasingly prominent. However, the impact of these factors on market performance, particularly in investment value, remains underexplored. The study, based on 412 validated responses from service industry professionals gathered through a carefully designed questionnaire, aims to predict the relationship among these factors and their influence on market performance. It also explores how cognitive engagement mediates the relationship between AI platforms and financial metrics. Key findings:(1) the interplay of technical, ethical, and risk factors optimizes market decision-making and guides AI investments; (2) cognitive engagement, especially in the services sector, is essential to maximize the impact of AI platforms on market performance. The study provides valuable insights into AI's role in shaping market dynamics within the services sector and relevant governance recommendations for policymakers.

In the era of digitalization and green development, collaborative green innovation is gaining increasing attention. However, how digital transformation affects green innovation, especially collaboration in green innovation is understudied. Based on the data analysis of Chinese listed firms between 2008 and 2021, this study investigates the relationship between digital transformation and collaborative green innovation and explores further the contingencies of financial slack and market competition. Our findings are as follows: 1) digital transformation increases the likelihood of having collaborative green innovation; 2) financial slack enhances this positive relationship, while the moderating role of market competition is not significant. Overall, our study advances both green innovation and digital transformation literature by building a linkage between digital transformation, collaboration innovation, and green innovation.

This study investigates the role of recency bias in the documented salience effect in stock returns. We find a stronger salience effect when the trading day that is most salient occurs near the end of the month. This finding is robust when we consider various market states and control for early reversals in a month. We further demonstrate that recency bias is stronger when the largest salience distortion happens on Fridays and in stocks with high limits to arbitrage. Finally, a salience measure that incorporates the nearness of salient returns produces a notably more pronounced salience effect. Our results demonstrate that the timing of information helps to explain the salience effect.

We investigate the relation between trading volume and future stock returns across stocks with different levels of mispricing in the Chinese equity market. We first show a negative relation between trading volume and future stock returns. When replicating the main results reported in Han, Huang, Huang and Zhou (2022), we find no evidence of the volume amplification effect in Chinese equities. There is no strong evidence that mispricing plays a role in explaining the volume-return relation. Overall, the results from China suggest that the mechanism in the volume-return relation is somewhat different when compared to those documented in Han et al. (2022).

While previous studies primarily use economy-wide indicators for political risk, Hassan et al. (Quart J Econ 134(4):2135–2202, 2019) propose that a significant portion of political risk manifests itself at the individual firm level. We use their measure of political risk to examine whether and how acquirers’ firm-level idiosyncratic political risks affect their mergers and acquisitions (M A) decisions based on a sample of U.S. firms. We find that firms exposed to a high level of perceived political risk are less likely to conduct M As. Furthermore, the negative association between firm-level political risk and M As is more pronounced when acquiring firms lack either financial capacities or non-financial political/social capacities. More importantly, while firms with high political risk generally delay M As, we find evidence suggesting that acquiring firms may hedge against their firm-level political risk by strategically choosing low-risk M A targets and conducting vertical integration. Finally, we show that effectively hedged deals exhibit superior post-M A performance in terms of higher announcement return, lower likelihood of subsequent divestiture and higher post-acquisition change in financial performance.

The impact of accounting supervision by China's Ministry of Finance on the capital markets has grown significantly in recent years. Using data from China's Ministry of Finance random inspections from 1999 to 2022, this study examines the effects of government accounting supervision on corporate stock price crash risk. Employing a staggered difference-in-differences (DID) approach, the findings indicate that government accounting supervision significantly reduces the risk of corporate stock price crashes in supervised firms. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the correlation between government accounting supervision and stock price crash risk is stronger when a company has a low marketization level, high equity concentration, low political affiliation, low audit quality, and low media attention. Findings contribute to the literature on determinants of crash risk and provide empirical support for the effectiveness of government accounting supervision in mitigating financial risks. This study offers valuable insights for policymakers while suggesting that strengthening accounting supervision can enhance market stability and investor protection when considering regional economic development and corporate ownership structures.

Taking the institutions that signed the United Nations (UN) Principles of Responsible Investment (PRI) from 2012 to 2021 as a sample, we study whether the risk-taking of investment targets will be affected when the institutions sign the PRI. The findings demonstrate that when an institution subscribes to the PRI, it significantly decreases its investment target's degree of risk-taking. After a series of stability tests, such as surrogate variables and propensity score matching method, the main regression results in this paper remain consistent. It has been suggested through mechanism analysis that signing the PRI increases both investment efficiency and information disclosure quality thereby minimizing enterprise risk-taking behavior. Further research shows that the state-owned nature of institutions and higher media attention can reduce the risk-taking of enterprises. This paper provides a new explanatory dimension through which enterprises can reduce their level of risk-taking and offers a theoretical foundation for further expanding the impact of the PRI.

Shared services have become an important IT-enabled organizational form for providing support business functions to internal users. The information systems that implement and deliver shared services are part of the organizational IT infrastructure that has a twofold effect on firm financial performance. On the one hand, with the shared services model, the IT infrastructure consolidates so that the costs are lowered for providing the common functions firm-wide. On the other hand, the systems delivering the shared services embody the workflow and business functions so that the value of shared services can be gained from improvements in the function performance at the process level. We perceive finance shared services as IT-enabled services for corporate finance and accounting functions, and propose that finance shared services improve firm profitability via cost savings at firm level and via increased working capital efficiency at the process level. We test our hypotheses with data on Chinese public firms from 2008 to 2019. Data analysis results show both direct effect of finance shared services on profitability and mediating effect of working capital efficiency. This study expands our understandings about impacts of shared services, and contributes to empirical research in IT business value.

业绩补偿承诺作为一项保护投资者权益的创新金融工具,其能否实现既定的目标十分重要.本文利用2013-2017年上半年间完成的重大资产重组事件为样本,发现该承诺中涉及的不同关键对赌条款设计会带来显著差异的业绩实现情况,且与以往的研究相比存在些许不同.承诺增长率越高、承诺期限越长,业绩实现情况越差,而现金补偿、补对价以及分期补偿却能正向影响业绩实现.此外,仅设置超额奖励机制并不能真正起到激励作用,关键还要看奖励机制中的奖励额度与额外要求.最后,本文又进行了异质性分析,考察不同公司治理水平下,具体设置对业绩实现情况的影响,为进一步理解该估值调整机制提供了一个新思路.

We investigate the relation between the cash conversion cycle (CCC) and the cross section of stock returns in the US and Chinese markets. By replicating the main results of Wang (2019), we find no evidence of the CCC effect in the Chinese market over the sample period 2002–2019. The results remain robust when microcap stocks are excluded from the sample. We also find that the components of the CCC play different roles in stock returns between the two markets. Further analysis shows that the CCC effect mainly exists in periods before 2002 in the US market. This suggests that the results of Wang (2019) may be sample specific.

本文主要从正式和非正式制度视角,针对公众环境关注对公司治理和企业行为的影响进行研究.选用2010-2018年A股制造业上市公司面板数据作为研究样本,考察公众环境关注与企业绿色创新行为之间的关系.研究结果发现,企业所在地公众环境关注能够驱动企业绿色创新行为.本文探究了两条影响渠道:首先,公众环境关注通过强化政府环境规制发挥作用,而政治关联的存在会削弱这一作用渠道;其次,公众环境关注通过提升企业生态观念发挥作用,与这一渠道一致,如果董事长是女性、更加年长或拥有家乡偏好,这一影响更为显著.研究结果表明,公众作为重要的利益相关者会影响企业的环境行为.

IPO中断增加了A股上市公司面临的不确定性.以2004—2016年A股上市公司为样本,用IPO中断的外生事件作为工具变量,考察延迟上市对公司绩效的影响.研究发现,延长IPO排队等待时间对公司上市之后的财务业绩表现有显著的负面影响,因为延迟上市增加了公司面临的融资约束,导致更激烈的产品市场竞争,并增加了公司的隐性成本.更早上市有助于公司抢占市场份额,公司的竞争对手延迟上市的时间越长,对公司自身的发展越有利.研究结果表明政府干预对资源配置产生了扭曲效应,并呼吁一个更加完善的IPO市场.

近期伦敦商品交易所(LME)镍期货交易的逼空大战引发市场极大关注.3月7日,LME镍期货3月合约价格从2.9万美元/吨暴涨至5万美元/吨收盘,紧接着又在3月8日盘中创下超过10万美元/吨的历史纪录,远高于现货的市场价格.LME在3月8日被迫介入暂停镍交易,宣布作废当日全部镍期货交易,并推迟原定于3月9日的现货镍合约交割.

2021年6月11日,滴滴出行正式披露向美国SEC提交的招股说明书,自4月就出现在媒体的传闻终于得到了验证. 网约车通过信息技术赋能,能减少出行供需的错配,从而提升社会出行效率.滴滴出行自2012年6月成立以来,持续"烧钱"争夺市场. 2018年初,滴滴的估值曾一度大大超出美团和字节跳动.然而,当年滴滴顺风车发生恶性安全事故,随之而来的行业强监管导致滴滴亏损加大,其IPO计划一再被迫延迟,估值也逐步下滑.三年以来滴滴不断演变其商业模式以适应新的市场环境.