Three essays on the effects of foreign direct investment on the host-country companies: An analysis in the private setting

This thesis investigates how the presence of foreign controlling shareholders relates to the performance and financial reporting quality of private subsidiaries. We analyze unique, hand-collected data consisting of a sample of more than 2,000 private Spanish companies controlled by either a local or...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Rusanescu, Simona
Tipo de recurso: tesis doctoral
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2017
País:España
Institución:CBUC, CESCA
Repositorio:TDR. Tesis Doctorales en Red
OAI Identifier:oai:www.tdx.cat:10803/424846
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10803/424846
http://dx.doi.org/10.6035/14012.2017.335557
http://mediaserver.csuc.cat/tdx/documents/80/91/05/80910572736703771608439857125541049164/
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Foreign ownership
Private firms
Subsidiaries
Earnings management
Audit opinion
Financial performance
Negocis, administració i dret
334
336
Descripción
Sumario:This thesis investigates how the presence of foreign controlling shareholders relates to the performance and financial reporting quality of private subsidiaries. We analyze unique, hand-collected data consisting of a sample of more than 2,000 private Spanish companies controlled by either a local or a foreign group during the period 1997-2013. Overall, results suggest a negative effect of foreign direct investment on the host-country companies. In particular, foreign ownership is associated with a sales advantage, but the higher personnel costs make foreign group subsidiaries less profitable than their locally-owned counterparts. As far as accounting quality is concerned, foreign-owned companies are also inferior to those owned by local groups, since we find a higher prevalence of earnings management and a higher likelihood of receiving modified audit reports for lack of transparency in subsidiaries of foreign groups. In sum, foreign control does not enhance firm profitability nor financial reporting quality, but fosters opacity.