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Information asymmetry

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Geographic Distance And State's Grip: Information Asymmetry, State Inattention, And Firm Implementation Of State Policy, Xiyi Yang, Heli Wang, Xiaoyu Zhou Sep 2023

Geographic Distance And State's Grip: Information Asymmetry, State Inattention, And Firm Implementation Of State Policy, Xiyi Yang, Heli Wang, Xiaoyu Zhou

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In this study, we develop the argument that geographic distance between the state and local governments undermines the state's capacity to influence the implementation of state policies by local organizations. Drawing from information economics and the attention-based view, we propose that physical distance reduces the state's monitoring effectiveness through two interrelated mechanisms: information asymmetry and state leaders' inattention to distant issues. Using data of Chinese public firms' implementation of environmental activities between 2008 and 2016, we find that firms conduct fewer environmental activities required by the state when they are regulated by local governments that are more geographically distant to …


A Signaling Theory Of Institutional Activism: How Norway’S Sovereign Wealth Fund Investments Affect Firms’ Foreign Acquisitions, Gurneeta Vasudeva, Lilac Nachum, Gui-Deng Say Aug 2018

A Signaling Theory Of Institutional Activism: How Norway’S Sovereign Wealth Fund Investments Affect Firms’ Foreign Acquisitions, Gurneeta Vasudeva, Lilac Nachum, Gui-Deng Say

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Combining perspectives from institutional activism and signaling theory literatures, we suggest that an activist sovereign wealth fund (SWF) can serve as an intermediary signaler, providing cues about host countries’ institutional environment to internationalizing firms. By publicizing its investments and engaging in institutional activism, a SWF can signal the institutional quality of host countries to internationalizing firms, thus allowing them to overcome the well-known “lemons problem” in international decision-making. We examine the impact of a SWF’s signals on firms’ ownership choices in their foreign acquisitions. Our empirical analysis of Norway’s socially responsible SWF and firms from Norway and Sweden during 1998–2011 …