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Investment Decisions and Managerial Discipline: Evidence from the Takeover Market
Author(s) -
Scholten Ralph
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
financial management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.647
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1755-053X
pISSN - 0046-3892
DOI - 10.1111/j.1755-053x.2005.tb00099.x
Subject(s) - market for corporate control , control (management) , business , tender offer , mechanism (biology) , function (biology) , investment (military) , investment decisions , monetary economics , economics , corporate governance , finance , behavioral economics , shareholder , management , politics , law , political science , philosophy , epistemology , evolutionary biology , biology
This article focuses on the relative importance of boards of directors and the hostile takeover market in disciplining managers who make poor acquisition decisions. The evidence shows a weak inverse relationship between acquisition performance and the likelihood of becoming a takeover target, but only after it becomes clear that the internal control mechanism has failed. A forced turnover of a top executive was more likely in the 1990s, the more negative the abnormal return associated with an acquisition announcement. The relationship between forced turnover and negative acquisition returns is stronger when hostile takeover activity is less intense. Hence, it appears that being disciplined for making a poor acquisition is a function more of the internal control mechanism than of the workings of the takeover market.