Calls for papers

 

International Journal of Comparative Management

 

SIMSARC'18: Special Issue on: "Corporate Announcements, Breaking News and Firm Performance"

Guest Editors:
Dr. Abhishek Behl, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India
Dr. Dipasha Sharma and Prof. Sushma Nayak, Symbiosis International (Deemed University), India

Best Paper Award
An Award of 10,000 Indian Rupees will be provided by the Guest Editors, who will judge the papers for the award. This is limited to one best paper with a PhD/postdoctoral researcher as a first author.

The purpose of this special issue is to examine the impact of corporate announcements made by a firm on its own performance as well as the ripple effects of the same on the entire industry and economy. Developments in the corporate world followed by corporate announcements – press or media releases – have momentous ramifications on markets, particularly equity market, debt markets, government securities markets and the banking industry, as well as on investor behaviour. Corporate notifications relating to the introduction of new products/services, financial results, credit ratings, changes in top-level management, alterations in marketing tactics, amendments in human resource policies, corporate social responsibility, mergers and acquisitions, global political news, national and international breaking news, etc. wield enormous influence on stock performance and future business strategies of the firms and those of their counterparts.

For instance, the announcement of Google’s acquisition of Motorola brought forth a positive market reaction amid Android’s vendors, largely attributable to Google’s ability to draw on Motorola’s far-reaching patent portfolio to help protect Android’s vendors from an impending patent infringement war, sooner or later (Chiu et al., 2015). In another case, Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia’s phone business invited mixed reactions from investors when the same was made public; the former’s stock plummeted while the latter’s picked up considerably. Surprisingly, Microsoft’s announcement to drop both – Nokia and Windows Phone brand names – and replace them with Microsoft Lumia was a major decision and reckoned as a disgraceful takeover of a once-mighty vendor (Curwen, 2015). As a further example, in emerging markets such as India, the announcement of Reliance Jio’s entry with its free services disrupted the telecom industry, began a new era of price wars among telecom players to retain sizeable market share, and saw unruly variations in stock markets; Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular were the major losers with respect to market capitalisation (Haq, 2017). Importantly, in the developed world, the announcement of Brexit negatively affected banking, travel and leisure sectors of the British economy during the period June-July 2016; the cumulative abnormal return for the banking sector was −15.37% (Ramiah et al., 2017).

Statements of mergers and acquisitions and the exposing of accounting scams have extensive repercussions on markets. With the announcement of insolvency proceedings against certain entities of the Videocon group, Dish TV commenced assessment of impact of its proposed merger with Videocon d2h, particularly with respect to the rights and obligations under the ultimate agreement and resultant effects on the transactions deliberated thereby. The consequences of corporate announcements have been further evident when high-flying companies such as Enron, WorldCom and Global Crossing were caught cooking the books and employing slippery accounting practices that caused extensive damage to investor portfolios (Rezaee, 2005). Enron, once the seventh largest company in United States, considered as most innovative and deemed even bigger than IBM and Sony at one time, experienced a fall in its stock price from $90 to 36 cents, when news spread of its complex network of off-shore partnerships and accounting practices (Fox, 2003). The involvement of Enron’s accounting firm – Arthur Anderson – also came as a rude shock for markets. WorldCom lost its reputation after being convicted for serious book cooking in the year 2002 wherein the company admitted to a book-keeping fraud that left a $3.8 billion hole in its accounts ("WorldCom’s bankruptcy mess", 2002); the announcement of numerous layoffs and wobbly financial underpinnings led to a dramatic fall in the company’s stock – or its ‘air pocket stock’, to term it correctly. When Canadian company Bre-X Minerals announced that its earlier claims of holding the world’s largest gold deposit had no truth, it led to a collapse of the junior mining sector and triggered a fall in the Vancouver Composite Index by over 25% in less than six weeks during the spring of 1997 (Brown and Burdekin, 2000). In India, the announcements relating to financial misappropriation by Satyam Computer Services Limited and a disclosure of $1.47 billion fraud on its balance sheet in 2009 (Pai and Tolleson, 2015) shook the corporate world and led to massive destruction in investor confidence in technology companies.

Vaporware announcements – a practice followed by high-tech companies of pre-announcing new products months before their arrival in the market, but releasing them too late or never actually bringing them into the market – can slow down the buying of competitors’ products initially and also deceive financial analysts to form excessively sceptical assessments of high-tech companies (Prentice and Langmore, 1994; Bayus et al., 2001; Zhang and Choi, 2018). Announcements concerning changes in leadership are known to evoke responses too. For example, when Vishal Sikka was announced as CEO of Infosys, India in August 2014, the company’s market value soared by $4.6 billion to $31.78 billion over the period following the announcement; his resignation three years later after a long-running row with founders of Infosys pulled down its shares nearly 10 percent, wiping $3.45 billion off its market value (Nair and Phartiyal, 2017). Studies also indicate that shareholders, conceivably the most financially enthused stakeholder, perceive CEOs as key drivers of firm outcomes, good and bad, contrary to their peers; therefore, the market reaction to the unexpected death of a CEO has increased steadily over recent years (Quigley et al., 2017). Thus, corporate announcements and trending news are found to have an important bearing on markets.

Studies relating to the impact of corporate announcements have been conducted in the past. Davidson and Worrel (1988) ascertained the response of the stock market to a public announcement of a corporation being accused of criminal practices. Del Brio et al. (2003) studied market response to investment announcements concerning capital expenditures by firms in the Spanish market. Kruger et al. (2014) examined the impact of announcements of new, renewed and terminated sponsorships on share price returns of sponsoring firms. Nguyen et al. (2015) assessed changes in the market valuation of banks in connection with announcements of executive appointments. Pevzner et al. (2015) examined the impact of societal trust on investor reactions to corporate earnings announcements. Xu et al. (2016) provided empirical evidence of the impact of media coverage relating to corporate environmental violations on stock markets wherein companies drawing high levels of media attention by and large are known to experience greater losses in their shareholders' wealth.

Corporate announcements relating to human resource practices and strategies such as layoffs, diversity and initiatives towards employee engagement communicate the intangible resources of firm and may affect firm performance. Worrell et al. (1991) assessed the impact of layoff announcement on investors’ reaction in the securities market. They observed a negative reaction from investors to such announcements. Arthur and Cook (2004) examined share price reactions to 231 work-family human resource policies adopted by Fortune 500 companies and concluded that there are positive effects of firm announcements of work-family initiatives on shareholder return. Announcements concerning environmental and social concerns also assist firms in gaining competitive advantage and influence shareholders. Gilley et al. (2000) investigated the influence of corporate announcements related to environmental initiatives on economic performance through an event-based study. Results revealed positive reactions of investors, and the positive reactions were more inclined towards product-driven initiatives than process-driven initiatives. However, in the case of emerging markets, positive shareholder returns can be achieved only when the corporate social initiatives announcement has substantive monetary value (Arya and Zhang, 2009).

Motivated by these factors, this special issue aims to study the effects of corporate announcements made by individual firms on their own performance, their competitors, the financial markets and the economy at large. Studies that conduct literature reviews, critical analysis, comparative observation, empirical testing and case investigations relating to the special issue’ theme are particularly welcome.

What are the consequences and empirical effects of corporate announcements relating to introduction of new products or services, financial performance, business strategies, marketing plans, human resource practices, corporate governance corporate social responsibility, mergers and acquisitions or breaking news, etc. in developed and emerging markets?

The Guest Editors will be inviting substantially extended versions of selected papers presented at the 9th Annual International Research Conference (SIMSARC'18) for review and potential publication, but are also inviting other experts to submit articles for this call.

Subject Coverage
Suitable topics include, but are not limited, to the following:

• Public announcement of launching firms' new products/services including technology and firm's performance (e.g. Sorescu et al., 2007; Talay et al., 2017; Zhang and Choi, 2018)
• Stock market reactions to press notices by companies with wide economic moats
• Crashes/black days/reversal/correction in stock markets resulting from major corporate announcements
• Irrational exuberance resulting from major corporate announcements
• Corporate performance after the announcement of mergers and acquisitions
• Industry shocks resulting from mergers and acquisitions (e.g. telecommunications)
• Consequences of announcements concerning money laundering and corporate frauds
• Impact of whistleblowing on firm's performance
• Corporate announcements relating to initial public offerings
• Vaporware announcements (e.g. Prentice and Langmore, 1994; Bayus et al., 2001; Haan, 2003)
• Notifications concerning litigation, disputes and final verdict
• Business/banking/economy breaking news and firm's quick reactions and outcomes (e.g. unexpected top-level managerial deaths, Quigley et al., 2017)
• Political/jurisdiction breaking news and firm's quick reactions and outcomes
• World's breaking news and firm's quick reactions and outcomes (e.g. the effects of Brexit, Ramiah et al., 2017)
• Global financial crisis, corporate restructuring announcements and firm performance
• Budgetary remedies and central banks' policies in aftermath of the financial crisis
• Contemporary challenges and policy solutions in corporate performance and governance management

Notes for Prospective Authors

Submitted papers should not have been previously published nor be currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. (N.B. Conference papers may only be submitted if the paper has been completely re-written and if appropriate written permissions have been obtained from any copyright holders of the original paper).

All papers are refereed through a peer review process.

All papers must be submitted online. To submit a paper, please read our Submitting articles page.

If you have any queries concerning this special issue, please email the Guest Editor Dr. Abhishek Behl at abhishekbehl27@gmail.com.

Important Dates

Manuscripts due by: 31 January, 2019

 

References

 

Arthur, M.M. and Cook, A. (2004) ‘Taking stock of work-family initiatives: How announcements of “family-friendly” human resource decisions affect shareholder value’, ILR Review, Vol. 57, No. 4, pp.599-613.

 

Arya, B. and Zhang, G. (2009) ‘Institutional reforms and investor reactions to CSR announcements: Evidence from an emerging economy’, Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 46, No. 7, pp.1089-1112.

 

Bayus, B.L., Jain, S. and Rao, A.G. (2001) ‘Truth or consequences: An analysis of vaporware and new product announcements’, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 38, No.1, pp.3-13.

 

Brown, W. and Burdekin, R. (2000) ‘Fraud and financial markets: the 1997 collapse of the junior mining stocks’, Journal of Economics and Business, Vol. 52, No.3, pp.277-288.

 

Chiu, J., Chung, H. and Yang, Y. (2015) ‘The impact of a conglomerate merger on its vendors and rivals – a case study of Google's acquisition of Motorola’, Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, Vol. 28, No. 2, pp.176-189.

 

Curwen, P. (2015) ‘And when they were up, they were up’, Info, Vol. 17, No. 2, https://doi.org/10.1108/info-11-2014-0047   

 

Davidson, W.N. and Worrel, D.L. (1988) ‘The impact of announcements of corporate illegalities on shareholder returns’, Academy of Management Journal, Vol.31, No. 1, pp.195-200.

 

Del Brio, E.B., Perote, J. and Pindado, J. (2003) ‘Measuring the impact of corporate investment announcements on share prices: the Spanish experience’, Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Vol. 30 No.5-6, pp.715-747.

 

Fox, L. (2003) Enron: The Rise and Fall, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, New Jersey.

 

Gilley, K.M., Worrell, D.L., Davidson III, W.N. and El–Jelly, A. (2000) ‘Corporate environmental initiatives and anticipated firm performance: The differential effects of process-driven versus product-driven greening initiatives’, Journal of Management, Vol. 26, No. 6, pp. 1199-1216.

 

Haan, M.A. (2003) ‘Vaporware as a means of entry deterrence’, The Journal of Industrial Economics, Vol. 51, No. 3, pp.345-358.

 

Haq, N. (2017) ‘Impact of Reliance JIO on the Indian Telecom Industry’, International Journal of Engineering and Management Research, Vol. 7 No. 3, pp.259-263.

 

Kruger, T.S., Goldman, M. and Ward, M. (2014) ‘The impact of new, renewal and termination sponsorship announcements on share price returns’, International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship, Vol. 15, No. 4, pp.10-25.

 

Nair, S. and Phartiyal, S. (2017) ‘Infosys CEO resigns after long-running feud with founders’, Reuters, Retrieved 12 January 2018, from https://in.reuters.com/article/us-infosys-ceo/infosys-ceo-resigns-after-long-running-feud-with-founders-idINKCN1AY0DH

 

Nguyen, D.D.L., Hagendorff, J. and Eshraghi, A. (2015) ‘Which executive characteristics create value in banking? Evidence from appointment announcements’, Corporate Governance: An International Review, Vol. 23 No. 2, pp.112-128.

 

Pai, K. and Tolleson, T. D. (2015) ‘India's Satyam Scandal: Evidence the Too Large to Indict Mindset of Accounting Regulators Is a Global Phenomenon’, Review of Business & Finance Studies, Vol. 6 No. 2, pp.35-43.

 

Pevzner, M., Xie, F. and Xin, X. (2015) ‘When firms talk, do investors listen? The role of trust in stock market reactions to corporate earnings announcements’, Journal of Financial Economics, Vol. 117, No.1, pp.190-223.

 

Prentice, R.A. and Langmore, J.H. (1994) ‘Beware of Vaporware: Product Hype and the Securities Fraud Liability of High-Tech Companies’, Harvard Journal of Law & Technology, Vol. 8, No.1, pp.1-74.

 

Quigley, T.J., Crossland, C. and Campbell, R.J. (2017) ‘Shareholder perceptions of the changing impact of CEOs: Market reactions to unexpected CEO deaths, 1950–2009’, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 38 No. 4, pp.939-949.

 

Ramiah, V., Pham, H.N. and Moosa, I. (2017) ‘The sectoral effects of Brexit on the British economy: early evidence from the reaction of the stock market’ Applied Economics, Vol. 49 No. 26, pp.2508-2514.

 

Rezaee, Z. (2005) ‘Causes, consequences, and deterrence of financial statement fraud’, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Vol. 16 No. 3, pp.277-298.

 

Sorescu, A., Shankar, V. and Kushwaha, T. (2007) ‘New product preannouncements and shareholder value: Don't make promises you can't keep’, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 44, No. 3, pp.468-489.

 

Talay, M.B., Akdeniz, M.B. and Kirca, A.H. (2017) ‘When do the stock market returns to new product preannouncements predict product performance? Empirical evidence from the US automotive industry’, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 45, No. 4, pp.513-533.

 

WorldCom’s bankruptcy mess. (2002) The Economist. Retrieved 6 January 2018, from http://www.economist.com/node/1245862

 

Worrell, D.L., Davidson, W.N. and Sharma, V.M. (1991) ‘Layoff announcements and stockholder wealth’, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 34, No. 3, pp.662-678.

 

Xu, X.D., Zeng, S.X., Zou, H.L. and Shi, J.J. (2016) ‘The impact of corporate environmental violation on shareholders' wealth: a perspective taken from media coverage’, Business Strategy and the Environment, Vol. 25 No. 2, pp.73-91.

 

Zhang, H. and Choi, Y.K. (2018) ‘Preannouncement messages: impetus for electronic word-of-mouth’, International Journal of Advertising (in press).