Estimating product efficiency through a hedonic pricing best practice frontier

A complex critical decision in marketing and economics is pricing. Finding the right price for a product requires careful assessment of the product attributes. Product efficiency evaluation establishes the relative appeal of a product, when compared with the observable attributes and prices of competing products. The main contribution of this paper is combining hedonic pricing with frontier analysis to estimate product efficiency, which is a novel approach. We apply this method to the running shoes market. We find four attributes as main drivers of price: Stability, Cushioning, Flexibility and Response. The model also identifies overpriced products and predicts the price reductions needed in order to be comparatively competitive, a prerequisite for overall business performance. Our results show the dynamics of price adjustments in the market. Overpriced products adjust prices down quickly gaining comparative appeal. Another interesting finding is that product efficiency strongly correlates with the evaluations made by independent experts. JEL classification: M31, L11, C13, Keywords: Hedonic pricing, Stochastic frontier analysis, Product efficiency, Running shoe

Gender diversity on boards of directors and remuneration committees: The influence on listed companies in Spain

Women have traditionally been underrepresented on boards of companies, but after some social and legal pressure their presence has been increased during recent years. This paper examines the relation of the presence of female directors both at board meetings and at audit and remuneration committees, with CEO pay and the shareholders' consultative vote on managerial remuneration plans (“say on pay”). Using a large sample of Spanish firms listed between 2011 and 2015, our study reveals that firms with female representation on their remuneration committee, display lower levels of CEO pay and CEO pay growth. We also obtain evidence that this effect is attributable to the proprietary female directors. Additionally, from the “say on pay” perspective, female membership of the remuneration committee is associated with a lower number of votes in terms of director remuneration reports and related policies. Overall, our results indicate that female directors on the remuneration committee contribute to a moderation of executive remuneration growth and are consequently perceived by shareholders as valuable resources in the design of executive remuneration plans. This confirms the influence of the minority group, females, in the sustainable progress of these companies. Our results support the presence of female directors not only as a social measure or tokenism, but also as a contribution to good governance practice

Efecto riqueza asociado al empleo de activos financieros: asimetría informativa y costes de agencia

The aim of this paper is to analyse the market reaction around the announcement of security issues undertaken in the Spanish Stock Market between 1989-1998. The results indicate that the announcement of equity and convertible bonds issues are valued negatively by investors and, on the contrary, the market reaction to public and private debt issues is positive. The excess returns observed around the announcement of security issues can be partially explained through the existence of informational asymmetries and divergences of interest between shareholders and managersEl objetivo de este trabajo es analizar la respuesta del mercado de capitales español al anuncio del empleo de distintos activos financieros durante el período 1989-1998. Los resultados indican que la decisión de ampliar capital y de emitir valores convertibles influye negativamente sobre el precio de las acciones de las empresas emisoras y, por el contrario, la decisión de emitir obligaciones simples y la concesión de préstamos sindicados tiene un efecto positivo. Asimismo, los resultados revelan que las asimetrías informativas y los costes de agencia explican parcialmente la respuesta del mercado al anuncio de la decisión de financiació

Sustainability Practices in Australian Firms: The Effect of Family Control and the Generational Stage

This paper examines the effects of family control on a firm’s adoption of sustainability practices, with special attention given to the heterogeneity of the family business derived from the generational stage of the company. Using a panel of 166 Australian companies listed between 2011 and 2018, we found that family businesses have lower sustainability scores compared to non-family businesses, according to the predictions of the socioemotional wealth (SEW) approach. For a subsample of family businesses, we found that multi-generational family businesses score better on sustainability than firms managed by the founders (first-generation). The SEW perspective could explain the effects of family control based on the pursuit of non-economic goals and the higher risk-aversion of family businesses. The decline in non-economic goals resulting from the ageing of the company stimulates the adoption of better sustainability practices. The generational stage of a family business could be a moderator of the relationship between family control and the adoption of sustainability practices and is a central element in explaining the disparity in the sustainability policies within family businesses

El papel informativo y supervisor del endeudamiento en el mercado español

En este trabajo se analizan los efectos a corto plazo que la decisión de endeudamiento, a través de valores negociables y financiación bancaria, tiene sobre la riqueza de los accionistas de la empresa. El estudio ha puesto de manifiesto que la decisión de emitir títulos de deuda origina una respuesta positiva del mercado, siendo aún mayor en el caso de la concesión de préstamos sindicados. Estos resultados parecen estar de acuerdo con el papel que juega la deuda como mecanismo supervisor de la conducta directiva y, al mismo tiempo, señalizador de expectativas favorables sobre la empresa

La elección entre acciones y títulos de deuda en el mercado financiero español

El objetivo de este trabajo es determinar si existen diferencias significativas entre las empresas que deciden financiar sus proyectos de inversión ampliando capital y las que prefieren hacerlo emitiendo obligaciones simples. Más concretamente, pretende encontrar estándares, para ambos tipos de empresas, en el comportamiento de determinadas variables vinculadas a la existencia de problemas de selección adversa y riesgo moral. Los resultados de este trabajo para el mercado de capitales español durante el período 1990-1998 indican que los problemas de riesgo moral, en detrimento de las situaciones de selección adversa, pueden condicionar, en parte, el tipo de financiación empleada por la empresa