Research
Industry Competition, Ownership Structure and Shareholder Activism
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Date
04-08-2011
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Publication
Working Paper
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Expertise
Sustainable & Impact Investing, Shareholder engagement & corporate governance
We study shareholder activism through proxy proposals in the United States from 1997–2006. We investigate the determinants for being targeted and the corresponding voting results. By using a distinctive sample that also includes withdrawn and omitted proposals, we circumvent a selection bias towards those proposals that actually go to a vote. We hypothesize that a lack of industry competition in combination with higher managerial entrenchment increases the likelihood of being targeted. Our empirical results support this hypothesis. Concerning voting outcomes, we find that insiders’ equity holdings have a significant and negative correlation. Hence, managers actively vote against shareholder proposals.
