Investment Spending in the Netherlands: Asymmetric Information or Managerial Discretion?

This paper examines the relation between cash-flow availability and investment spending in the Netherlands. In particular, we are interested whether managerial discretion and/or asymmetric information underpin the positive relation between cash-flow and investment spending. This relation is significantly positive for both firms with low and high investment opportunities. It is however significantly larger for firms with low investment opportunities suggesting that the managerial-discretion problem is most important in the Dutch setting. Effective corporate-governance may reduce this agency problem. Specific to the Netherlands, firms with low shareholder influence posit a higher cash-flow-investment sensitivity. The relevance of asymmetric information is confirmed as smaller firms and firms from information-sensitive industries show a larger cash-flow-investment sensitivity.

It Takes Two To Tango: an empirical tale of distressed firms and assisting banks

We study the restructuring process of small and medium-sized firms in financial distress. We have a unique dataset with firms in the Netherlands that are guided in their restructuring effort by banks. Part of our dataset consists of firms that successfully restructure their operations and obligations with the help of their bank. Another part consists of firms that, despite the assistance of their bank, did not succeed in reorganizing their operations and finances. Our empirical test predicts success and failure in restructuring. We find that banks guide firms in their restructuring effort and that their assistance is of crucial importance to the success of the restructuring. However, some firms do not benefit from this assistance, because firms need to be prepared to undertake radical operational changes before bank assistance is forthcoming

The Netherlands: the overlooked variety of big business

This chapter presents an introductory and exploratory overview of the history and present state of business groups in the Netherlands, with an emphasis on large business in the twentieth century. Statistical data and overviews are complemented by case studies, in order to sketch the diversity in business groups among Dutch businesses. Although business groups were present throughout modern Dutch business history, they were never the dominant organizational form. Although some large multinationals can be classified as business groups and many smaller family businesses are business groups, little attention has been paid to the organizational form in the literature. The chapter cannot document general motivations for Dutch firms to opt for a business group structure but presents several case-specific and idiosyncratic reasons

Costs and Recovery Rates in the Dutch Liquidation-Based

Abstract We present evidence on the efficiency of the resolution of financial distress in bankruptcy in The Netherlands. We employ a unique data set based on the files of the trustees and court offices, which includes the characteristics of the firms before and in the bankruptcy procedures, the details of the bankruptcy process and the outcomes. This data allows us to measure the costs and recovery rates in the Dutch liquidationbased bankruptcy system, and to investigate the determinants of these costs and recoveries. We find that direct costs are on average 16%. The costs are lower in larger firms and firms with more bank debt. Costs increase with the time it takes to sell assets and the number of disputes the trustee has to deal with. The firm recovery rate is on average 37%, while the bank recovers on average 80%. The firm recovery rate is influenced by the asset structure and the capital structure. Moreover, an opportunity to continue operations in bankruptcy is chosen by about half the firms and this has a positive effect on recoveries

Investment and Internal Finance: Asymmetric Information or Managerial Discretion?

This paper examines the relation between cash-flow availability and investment spending in the Netherlands. In particular, we are interested whether managerial discretion and/or asymmetric information drive the positive relation between cash-flow and investment spending. This relation is positive for both firms with lo