Publications

The topic of payout policy significance in terms of value creation has been developing for 50 years already. This development has led to the establishment classic theories that explain different patterns in the companies’ payout policy choices: signaling, agency costs theory, clientele theory and catering theory. However, tests results are not always consistent among different authors, which means that these theories cannot be used universally. Classic theories assume that all agents on the market are fully rational, which is rather unrealistic. These two facts led to the development of behavioral explanation of the payout policy choice. This approach focuses on the behavioral characteristics of managers that are responsible for the decision-making process in the company. Thus, the payout policy according to this approach is considered as the function of behavioral characteristics of managers (overconfidence, optimism, risk preferences, etc.) rather than the function of the financial variables.

This particular article is the review of researches that cover classic and modern theories of payout policy. The article covers the logic of the development of different views on the payout policy. The author covers articles that test different theories, analyzes main results and conclusions, investigates the reasons for the development of these theories. The main focus has been made on the behavioral approach which is considered as the most fruitful direction for the future research. The authors also cover the methodology of existing papers, variables that measure behavioral characteristics and results.    

This study investigates the puzzle of zero-debt in emerging markets using a sample of firms from Eastern Europe during 2000-2013. The results of this paper are in line with the previous research of firms from developed markets. Firms that are financially constrained do not use debt as a result of credit rationing while financially unconstrained firms intentionally eschew debt to maintain financial flexibility and avoid underinvestment incentives. Furthermore, this study provides new insights into unconstrained firms’ performance during different economic situations. Firms that strategically avoid debt show better financial results than levered firms.

This paper aims to investigate the effect that internal corporate governance mechanisms have on the performance of commercial banks, how it differs for developed and emerging European markets, and whether it has changed as a result of the financial crisis. The key statistical tool used in the paper is the panel data analysis of the sample of 150 banks from 27 countries, over the period 2004-2011. We document the evidence partially supporting the effectiveness of smaller boards of directors, while the board independence seems to be negatively associated with the strategic performance of banks, especially in emerging markets and in times of a crisis. In emerging markets, state-owned banks appear to be more market-efficient, while high ownership concentration is considered by market players to be a negative signal. Studying the 2008 financial crisis period provides the evidence for structural movements in nonfinancial performance drivers.

R&D projects in pharmaceutical industry are extremely risky and bring benefits in long-run period. Self-interested managers try to avoid risk and underinvest in R&D. In this paper we study the effect of independent directors, insider ownership and scientific connections on R&D investments. Independent directors and insider ownership can mitigate agency problem by additional monitoring and convergence of interests. Scientific collaborations promote technological development and increase R&D. The research reveals the difference of the effects in emerging and developed market.

Researchers have long tried to define the impact of corporate mergers and acquisitions on company performance. We contribute to the existing literature by examining the performance of M&A deals in emerging capital markets based on the economic profit model and comparing the results with ones obtained by means of traditional method—accounting studies. Examining a sample of 80 deals initiated by companies from emerging capital markets over 2003–2009, we find that M&As are value-destroying deals for the combined firms. Results from the long-run analysis prove the negative industry-adjusted differences between post-acquisition and preacquisition performance measures. The difference is equal to a significant −3.3% for the EBITDA/sales ratio. The economic profit approach demonstrates a similar result. Economic profit has declined due to M&A deals by $4 million. We also analyze the determinants of M&A performance, such as method of payment, business similarity, and type of geographical expansion (cross-border versus local deals).

This paper presents a study of the impact of taxation on the capital structure of Russian companies, based on the Graham model. The study revealed that it is more appropriate to include the effective tax rate in the model, rather than use the marginal tax rate since it is more applicable for the Russian companies

The focus of this paper is the reasons of suboptimal investment policy that consists of over- or underinvestment. We consider the definitions of risk-shifting and risk avoidance effects that lead to suboptimal investments. These problems are connected with the agency conflicts in the firm between different parties: shareholders, debt holders and managers. Since the preferences of claimholders vary from one stage of the life-cycle to another, the incentives for over- and underinvestment differ in the stages of the life-cycle. The originality and the focus of this paper are the reasons for the exposure of overinvestment and underinvestment at different life-cycle stages. The research was conducted on a sample of Russian nonfinancial companies from the period 2003-2012. This sample was divided into three life-cycle stages: growth, maturity and decline. The method of life-cycle stages identification was modified in order to use only available data and make the model more business oriented. Risk-shifting and risk avoidance, as the reasons to the problem of suboptimal investment were studied. For this purpose the estimations with one of the effects were identified. The life-cycle stages, at which the effects took place, were determined, and also the strength of risk-shifting and risk avoidance was identified with the help of the regression analysis. In addition there was considered a way to mitigate these effects. According to the results they might be eliminated by the adjustment of short-term debt level.

The topic devoted to cross-border M&A performance has received wide attention in academic literature. Most existing studies examine wealth effects of international M&As in developed countries. We contribute to existing research by examining the market reaction to the announcements of M&As initiated by companies from BRICS countries over 2000–2012. We assess the long-term performance of M&A deals along with the short-term one and provide a copmarative analysis of company wealth gains in cross-border and domestic M&As. Based on the sample of 117 cross-border deals and 247 domestic M&As we find that foreign acquisitions outperform the domestic ones in the long run. We also find that main determinants of M&A performance are the acquirer’s FCFF, percentage change in the acquiring country’s exchange rate against the target country currency during the acquisition year, and the level of international diversification of acquirers.

This research focuses on the relationship between corporate governance and performance in the largest European listed banks, which have been studied to a lesser extent within this field. The study is based on agency theory and we use a sample of 404 observations referring to 97 banks selected from the annual ranking of the 2,000 biggest companies in the world prepared by Forbes. The paper covers the period from 2006 to 2010, thus, examining the changes in the performance drivers in the recent financial crisis. On the basis of the panel data analysis, we confirm that the variety of governance factors including board size, insider appointed, directors’ age, board meetings and affiliated committees influence the performance of the banks. This paper contributes to a better understanding of the effect of corporate governance on the financial performance of the financial companies in times of high capital market volatility.

In this research the analysis of the impact of corporate financial architecture on company’s performance is conducted for a sample of large Russian companies. We focus on sustainable growth identified  thru the application of intrinsic value change criteria.  We employ integrated approach to understand the determinants of the sustainable growth based on key structural characteristics of a company. The financial architecture is represented by ownership structure (managerial ownership, foreign ownership and ownership concentration), corporate governance (the structure of the board of directors and internal control) and capital structure. We examine the difference in characteristics of growth sustainability of Russian companies representing three different types of financial architecture of more than 50 large Russian firms. Our results indicate that corporate financial architecture has a significant impact on the sustainable corporate growth in the Russian market. More importantly, we show that the nature of the influence depends on the type of financial architecture.

The last market crash of 2008-2009 showed that the construction sphere is one of the most fragile spheres to the crisis effect. The destructive effect of this crash was resulted in substantial decrease in mortgage lending, price index, capital investment, and in growth of the cost level. As the construction industry remains strategically important, the eruption of this sphere, which was facilitated by the crisis, might considerably harm Russian economy as a whole. However, lack of relevant studies leaves the main risk factor of Russian construction firms’ failure unexplored. The purpose of this study is to reveal the key determinants, which cause bankruptcy of Russian construction firms during the crisis period. Moreover, the article provides testing of applicability of accounting-based models to prediction of bankruptcy of these firms. The results show the validity of binary-choice logit and probit specifications with the highest classification accuracy of around 85%. In addition, the liquidity and profitability ratios were defined as superior insolvency factors for four years before a company files for bankruptcy.

The problem of the firm bankruptcy prediction was investigated by foreign researchers in the 1930s and it still remains relevant. Since the publishing of Altman’s (1968) major work, based on multiple discriminant analysis (MDA), this methodological area has considerably changed. Taking into consideration that new data have appeared in the course of time, companies’ average size has changed, and the accounting standards have changed (Altman, Haldeman, & Narayanan, 1977), methods and models should be renewed so as to be appropriate for current situation. The purpose of this paper is to reveal factors causing bankruptcy and use models appropriate for prediction bankruptcy in the area of a construction industry during the financial crisis. This investigation has been carried out on the basis of logit and probit analysis. The main reasons of bankruptcy revealed in the course of this investigation are the following: (1) non-optimal capital structure formation; (2) ineffective liquidity management; (3) decrease in assets profitability; and (4) decrease in short-term assets turnover. The most reliable indicators which give warning of bankruptcy ahead of others are financial instability and liquidity ratios.

This paper presents an analysis of innovative growth of the economy in terms of increase in production of natural resources held within the framework of the model. The aim is to study the problem questions commodity-oriented economy based on building models of endogenous growth. The models are built in the framework of the theory of endogenous growth and are a multi-sector extension of the Solow model with a constant rate of savings. In the proposed model to the economy added resource sector by developing its different from other companies, changes and non-tradable goods sector.

This paper presents an analysis of innovative growth of the economy in terms of increase in production of natural resources held within the framework of the model. The aim is to study the problem questions commodity-oriented economy based on building models of endogenous growth. The models are built in the framework of the theory of endogenous growth and are a multi-sector extension of the Solow model with a constant rate of savings. In the proposed model to the economy added resource sector by developing its different from other companies, changes and non-tradable goods sector.

The variance and semivariance are traditional measures of asset returns volatility since Markowitz proposed the market portfolio theory. Well known models for expected asset returns were developed under assumptions of mean-variance or mean-semivariance investor’s behavior. But numerous papers provided arguments against these models because of unrealistic assumptions and controversial empiric evidence. More complicated models with downside risk measures experienced difficulties with applications. The new model based on the special form of the investor’s utility function is proposed in this paper.

The paper discusses corporate performance modeling through the integrated conception of corporate financial architecture. We examine the influence of financial architecture based on ownership structure, capital structure and corporate governance over strategic performance of Russian nonfinancial companies. First, we conduct a comparative analysis of different measures for corporate performance using economic profit and Tobin’s Q as dependent variables. Second, we test our model using the unique research database of 70 Russian companies that allowed us to test different dimensions of corporate governance quality and to demonstrate the high correlation between the quality of corporate governance and Russian companies’ performance. Third, we contribute to the challenging issue of exploring the relationship between boards and corporate performance before the global crisis and within the crisis. We contribute to the literature by applying new approach derived from corporate financial architecture concept to economic profit modeling in an emerging market.

In this paper we study the performance effects of capital structure, ownership structure and corporate governance mechanisms of Russian companies. To address the lack of research in corporate performance modeling in emerging markets we contribute to the literature by introducing cluster analysis of financial architecture and market performance of Russian companies. Our idea is to find out the efficient and inefficient types of financial architecture in emerging markets. On the sample of 50+ largest Russian nonfinancial companies within the period of 2005-2010 years we demonstrate existence of three sustainable types of financial architecture in Russia. Using cluster analysis we form the cluster of companies in pre-crisis period and then demonstrate the relationship between the financial architecture type and level of market performance of the company.

The problem of the firm bankruptcy prediction was investigated by foreign researchers in the 1930s and it still remains relevant. Since publishing of the major Altman’s work (1968), based on multiple discriminant analysis, this methodological area has been considerably changed. Taking into consideration that new data have appeared in the course of time, companies’ average size has changed and the accounting standards have been changed (Altman (1977)) methods and models should be renewed to be appropriate for the present day situation. The purpose of this investigation is the revealing of factors causing bankruptcy and using models appropriate for prediction bankruptcy in the area of a construction industry during financial crisis. This investigation has been carried out on the basis of logit and probit analysis. The main reasons of bankruptcy revealed in the course of this investigation are the following: • non-optimal capital structure formation • ineffective liquidity management • decrease in assets profitability • decrease in short-term assets turnover The most reliable indicators, which give warning of bankruptcy ahead of others are financial instability and liquidity ratios.

Performance of the firm depends on its structural dimensions: capital structure, ownership structure and corporate governance. Their interactions are known as corporate financial architecture according to S. Myers. In this paper we analyze financial architecture which is a mix of ownership structure, capital structure, control and board’s composition, and therefore, provides the given framework for improving corporate performance. We contribute to the literature by different attributes of our study. In contrast to most empirical papers on performance, we develop integrated rather than segmented approach combining the intrinsic components of corporate financial design in one research model. We introduce new variable to capture the structure of ownership for the purpose of performance analysis. Our third contribution is based on comparative analysis of the influence of financial architecture over corporate performance in rather different capital market environment: developed European and emerging (developing) capital market’s countries. We start with a classic empirical model of the impact of ownership structure, capital structure and other components of financial architecture on the corporate performance. Further we verify the validity of exogenous nature of key variables of the classic model when applying it to companies in developed and emerging market environment. Our results could have some important policy implications for the firms in normal economic environment as well as in the period of global economic crisis. We found that the higher proportion of related ownership which indicates investors with significant voting power and the board’s composition affect firm performance positively. The related shareholders and independent directors seem to add more value to firms while the impact of government ownership differs depending on the country. The emerging market’s sample versus the one from developed countries proves the stronger influence of corporate financial architecture over performance.

In this paper the authors model the impact of state ownership as a component of the corporate financial architecture on corporate performance and conduct a cross-country analysis of this effect in order to identify the geopolitical differences. The cross-country analysis is focused on the level of development of the institutional mechanisms, designed to protect minority shareholders. The major findings of the paper are in line with a number of research papers’ results obtained in the developed and emerging markets. The contribution of this paper is the joint analysis of two different factors: state ownership and investor protection level and the development of the corporate performance model taking into account the joint influence of these factors as well as their interrelation.

The article presents the results of empirically testing the predictions of the dynamic trade-off theory on the data of 56 Russian medium-sized companies. We use the data from 2004 to 2008 and show that the management behavior follows the principles of the dynamic trade-off concept. According to our analysis, the optimal interval for the company leverage becomes narrower as the profitability, size, growth opportunities and tangibility of a firm increase. Statistically significant difference between the lower and upper bounds of the interval confirms that the management adjusts the debt level targeting the optimal interval but not a specific optimal level.

 

The capital structure researches, carried out on the emerging markets, are mainly devoted to the analysis of the companies' choice determinants of the debt to equity ratio. The fact that these problems stir a lot of interest to day may be explained by a number of reasons and, first of all, by lasting substantial capital market institutions' differences, the level and factors of investment risks that differ from those of the countries with developed market economy. The question of evaluating the degrees of influence similar determinants have on the long-term financial development of companies operating in different structures of the capital market is being posed. The dynamics and driving forces of possible changes in the emerging company capital structures on such markets are still to be investigated. Finally, there is a separate substantive issue of assessing the role of capital structure and its potential contribution in maximizing company value on the emerging markets.

This article is thus aimed at constructing a model that could describe the capital structure choice of the Russian major public companies. The two basic capital structure theories are being tested: the Pecking Order Theory and the Trade-off Theory. The article is presented in the following way: in the first part we give an overview of the research papers on the problem of capital structure in the emerging markets, the second part focuses on the methods used for testing the above mentioned theories and analyses of our sample of the Russian data and methodology, and, finally, in the third part we introduce and interpret the results of the empirical analysis.

Currently, the venture capital becomes more and more advanced and effective source of the innovation project financing, connected with a high risk level. In the developed countries it plays a key role in transforming innovation projects into successful businesses and creating prosperity of the modern economy. Actually in Russia there are many necessary preconditions for creation of the effective venture investment system: the network of the public institutes for innovation financing operates, there is a significant number of the small and medium-sized enterprises, capable to sell production with good market potential. However the current system does not confirm the necessary level of efficiency in practice that can be substantially explained by the absence of the accurate plan of action to form the national venture model and by the lack of experience of successful venture deals with profitable exits in Russian economy. This paper studies the influence of various factors on the venture industry development by the example of the IT-sector in Russia. The choice of the sector is based on the fact, that this segment is the main driver of the venture capital market growth in Russia, and the necessary set of data exists. The size of investment of the second round is used as the dependent variable. To analyze the influence of the previous round such determinant as the volume of the previous (first) round investments is used. There is also used a dummy variable in regression to examine that the participation of an investor with high reputation and experience in the previous round can influence the size of the next investment round. The regression analysis of short-term interrelations between studied variables reveals prevailing influence of the volume of the first round investments on the venture investments volume of the second round. As a result of the research, the participation of investors with first-class reputation has a small impact on an indicator of the value of investment of the second round. The expected positive dependence of the second round investments on the forecasted market growth rate at the moment of the deal is also rejected. So, the most important determinant of the value of the second-round investment is the value of first–round investment, so it means that the most competitive on the Russian market are the startup teams which can attract more money on the start, and the target market growth is not the factor of crucial importance.

The debt-to-equity choice has always been one of the crucial decisions of the firm’s management. The capital structure is vital for the appropriate development of relationships among the company’s stakeholders. The conflicts of interests between management and shareholders and creditors as well as conflicts between other groups of stakeholders lead to the appearance of agency costs that decrease the corporate value. The role of agency costs is even higher in emerging markets due to higher information asymmetry, lower development of legal system, investors’ protection rights and corporate governance. Our paper contributes to the literature by analyzing the agency costs and capital structure choice on the data of emerging markets companies. Our sample consists of more than 150 companies from BRICS and Eastern Europe within 2000-2010. By conducting the empirical analysis based on both linear panel data regressions as well as simultaneous modeling of leverage choice and management shareholding we obtain the following results. The agency costs are relevant for debt-to-equity choice in Russia, India, China and Eastern Europe but the results are not so obvious in Brazil where financing policy could be explained by trade-off theory. We found out the non-linear relationship between financial leverage and management shareholding which is also in line with agency costs significance. Moreover we revealed that agency costs define long-term leverage, but cannot explain short-term debt in emerging markets. Further, we concluded that debt ratios based on market value of equity are not affected by agency costs opposite to capital structure variables based on book value of equity.

During the last two decades corporate international diversification became a widely used growth strategy. However, the majority of scientific researches insist on its value-destroying pattern. Those of them which were based on accounting studies’ methodology and used current performance measures are likely to make an incomplete evaluation of corporate performance by accounting either for operating performance or financial (cost of capital) effects of internationalization. The current paper proposes a new approach for estimation of internalization-performance relationship which is based on economic profit concept. It allows to control simultaneously both operating and financial effects of internationalization on the firms’ current performance. The proposed model has been empirically tested on a sample of large companies from one of emerging economies - Russia. The results identify a non-linear U-shape relationship between a degree of internationalization and companies’ residual income (economic profit). The relationship is mainly determined by operating performance effects on economic profit while cost of capital has a modest effect. Overall for the majority of companies international diversification refers to decrease in economic profit. The results are compared against the Q-Tobin measure which incorporates expectations about future performance. A joint analysis of current performance (economic profit) and long-term performance (Q-Tobin) allows to expect the internationalization benefits to be realized in future. As an implication of the present research for corporate decision makers it may be stated that at the initial level of international diversification the internationalization decisions should be made with a high degree of caution. There should be a clear internationalization strategy based on definite mechanisms of performance improvement. The prestige and other irrational motives which may lead to the value destruction should be pruned.

This paper analyzes why high-tech firms are less likely to have debt in their capital structure. The share of zero-leverage firms increased in the US in the Software & Services, Hardware Equipment and the Pharmaceutical & Biotechnical industries which are treated as high-tech firms in our research. We divide the sample of US-based firms from the RUSSELL 3000 index for the period from 2004 to 2015 into two groups, one of them includes only high-tech firms, another contains all other firms from the sample. Traditional determinants of corporate structure such as size, age, asset tangibility, profitability and market-to-book ratio cannot fully explain why high-tech firms choose a zero-debt policy. We found that high-tech firms are more financially constrained than non-high-tech firms. The managerial entrenchment hypothesis could not predict zero-leverage for high-tech firms, but it can partially predict the debt conservatism of non-high-tech firms. The evidence shows that the excess cash hypothesis explains why unconstrained high-tech firms have zero-leverage but does not explain it for non-high-tech firms. Finally, we did not find a significant influence of the financial flexibility hypothesis for the decision of unconstrained high-tech firms to be unlevered, while for their non-high-tech counterparts this hypothesis fits.

Researchers have long tried to define the impact of corporate diversification on firm value. Academic papers mainly concentrate on the effects of corporate diversification in mature markets while its consequences in emerging capital markets are less explored. This article presents the results of an empirical analysis of corporate diversification strategies of a sample of companies from BRIC countries that expanded via acquisitions during 2000–2013. We contribute to the existing literature by examining the effects of corporate diversification on firm value during the pre- and post-crisis periods. In line with other studies, we distinguish between related and unrelated diversification and in contrast to them we single out and separately analyze horizontal, conglomerate and vertical acquisitions. Based on a sample of 319 deals initiated by companies from BRIC countries, we found positive (3.32% and 9.01%) and statistically significant cumulative abnormal returns for conglomerate acquisitions during the pre- and post-crisis periods, correspondingly. We also found that the market reacts positively and statistically significant to the announcements of horizontal and vertical integration only during the pre-crisis period.

This work contributes to the literature on exchange-rate exposure in emerging markets. We studied datasets of exchange-listed companies from four BRIC countries and discovered that exchange rate movements in the US dollar and euro affected more than 10% of these firms between 2003 and 2013. The most interesting finding of this research is that stock returns behaved differently with increasing and decreasing currency rates. For capturing the asymmetric relationship of stock and exchange rate movements, we applied a nonlinear dynamic model, which significantly improved our results compared to the empirical findings of simple versions of the Adler Dumas (1984) and Jorion (1990) models. We studied determinants of exposure to positive and negative currency movements separately. Although significant determinants in both cases were mostly similar, their weights were different. For example, the ratio of export sales was asymmetrically correlated to exchange rate exposures for all countries except Russia. For a better understanding of the sources of asymmetry in exchange rate exposure, we separately studied the positive and negative coefficients of currency exposure from the non-asymmetric model. This was never done before and natural in a way that determinants should affect positive and negative currency exposures differently. We found evidence of the contrasting impact of export sales and foreign debt in both cases.

Corporate governance is one of the crucial characteristics of the firm, which not only provides protection for investors but also significantly affects all decisions taken by the firm, including financing policy. The results of studies examining developed capital markets show that strong corporate governance provides more favourable terms of financing. In addition, due to information asymmetry, as well as lower development of legal systems and investor protections in emerging markets, corporate governance is also important as an efficient way to resolve various types of agency conflicts, thereby reducing agency costs that significantly decrease corporate value. In accordance with theory and empirical findings, corporate governance also influences the speed of adjustment to the target leverage. Our paper contributes to the literature by analysing the corporate governance mechanisms and financing policy using the data of emerging markets companies. The sample consists of public companies from BRIC during the 2005-2012 financial years. Our major results confirm that corporate governance matters for debt-to-equity choice: firms with better corporate governance tend to have higher leverage, as proper corporate governance helps to resolve different agency conflicts. High-level corporate governance also results in a greater speed of adjustment to target financial leverage, as firms with strong corporate governance can access financing on more favourable terms. 

We introduce a new asset pricing model to account for risk asymmetrically in a very natural way. Assuming asymmetric investor behavior we develop a utility function similar to a quadratic utility but include a colog measure for capturing risk attitude. Asymmetry in investor preferences follows the asymmetric relationships between asset and market returns in equilibrium. Moreover the local version of the model depends on the characteristics of domestic markets, which is reflected in the different relationship between asset and market returns. We test the model in the Russian and South African markets and show that market premium in the Russian market is higher than in the South African market. 

Researchers have long tried to define the impact of corporate mergers and acquisitions on company performance. We contribute to the existing literature by examining the influence of M&A deals on company value in the short-run using the event study method and in the long-run based on economic profit concept. Examining a sample of 80 deals initiated by companies from emerging capital markets over 2002-2009, we find that M&As are value-destroying deals for the combined firms. Results from the long-run analysis prove the negative industry-adjusted differences between post-acquisition and pre-acquisition performance measures. The difference is equal to a significant -3.3% for the EBITDA/Sales ratio. The Economic Profit approach demonstrates a similar result. Our findings from the short-run analysis indicate that the announcements of M&A deals generate significant high returns for target shareholders, while the returns to bidder shareholders are not significant. We also analyze the determinants of M&A performance, such as method of payment, business similarity, and the target’s country. 

The choice of appropriate model for estimation of cost of equity in emerging markets is still a very challenging problem. Market inefficiency, limited opportunities for diversification, as well as liquidity issues inspire researches to look for risk characteristics beyond the usual mean variance framework of the classical capital asset pricing model. Various models were developed for the past several decades proposing new ways of risk assessment, however, controversial empirical evidence of these models requires careful consideration. We tested empirically how different risk parameters, including those entropy based, explain the rate of return on Russian equities. We compare different models to choose the best suiting one for each period of economic cycle.