On Real Investment by New Ventures

This paper contributes to the literature on new firms in two ways. First, by addressing new venture investment, it focuses on a largely neglected, but important, issue of new firm business decisions. Second, it provides a valuable picture for how real investing by new businesses is going to evolve over time. Results suggest that investments by new firms are prone to an s-shaped time pattern rather than a random, linear or a gradually growing trajectory, or a capital market driven behavior as is assumed usually in the literature on investment decisions. By constructing a framework for future research on new venture investment, this article suggests specific research opportunities for future contributions to this body of knowledge. Based on the developed theorem, four main strands for future research can be identified, namely, (1) the empirical validation of the theorem per se, including trajectory, duration, and level of investment; (2) the link between investment and funding of the venture; (3) the link between investment and new venture development; and (4) investment as an adjustment of aggregate capital stock

Value Relevance vis-à-vis Disclosure on Business Combinations and Goodwill Recognized by Publicly Traded Brazilian Companies

Abstract The objective of this study is to examine the value relevance of the level of disclosure on business combinations and goodwill recognized by publicly traded Brazilian companies. The research sample is composed of publicly traded Brazilian companies that carried out any type of business combination, as the acquiring entity, between 2010 and 2013, yielding a total sample of 202 observations. To measure the disclosure level of each, a metric was created based on CPC-15 R1 (2011) to examine certain disclosure items in order to render a greater level of detail. Data collection was carried out using the footnotes to the annual consolidated standardized financial statements (DFPs) available from the São Paulo Stock Exchange (BM&FBOVESPA) website. The results revealed that disclosure levels for business combinations are positively and significantly associated with the stock price of the companies analyzed. As to the recognition of goodwill during business combinations, despite the fact that it represents a significant share of the value of the transactions, no statistical significance explaining stock price behavior was found. It also bears mentioning that the average level of disclosure identified in the explanatory notes in the sample was very low, indicating that companies need to improve when it comes to transparency of information