IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/corfin/v30y2015icp65-84.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Multinationality and opaqueness

Author

Listed:
  • Aabo, Tom
  • Pantzalis, Christos
  • Park, Jung Chul

Abstract

We investigate whether and how multinationality affects the opaqueness of the firm. We use multiple alternative measurements of multinationality and opaqueness. Spanning nearly three decades for a large sample of US non-financial firms, we find a statistically and economically significant, positive relationship between multinationality and opaqueness. We find that this positive relationship hinges on whether or not the degree of foreign involvement is compatible with the structure of the firm's foreign operations network. Our results imply that multinationality's impact on opaqueness is alleviated when there is harmony between the size of foreign involvement and the extent of the MNC network's geographic dispersion. Previous literature has implicitly assumed a simple, positive relationship. This is the first study to explicitly address the question in a comprehensive manner.

Suggested Citation

  • Aabo, Tom & Pantzalis, Christos & Park, Jung Chul, 2015. "Multinationality and opaqueness," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 65-84.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:corfin:v:30:y:2015:i:c:p:65-84
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2014.12.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0929119914001540
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2014.12.002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Art Durnev & Claudine Mangen, 2009. "Corporate Investments: Learning from Restatements," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(3), pages 679-720, June.
    2. Linda Allen & Christos Pantzalis, 1996. "Valuation of the operating Flexibility of Multinational Corporations," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 27(4), pages 633-653, December.
    3. Jin, Li & Myers, Stewart C., 2006. "R2 around the world: New theory and new tests," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(2), pages 257-292, February.
    4. Pol Antràs & Mihir A. Desai & C. Fritz Foley, 2009. "Multinational Firms, FDI Flows, and Imperfect Capital Markets," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(3), pages 1171-1219.
    5. Patrick J. Kelly, 2014. "Information Efficiency and Firm-Specific Return Variation," Quarterly Journal of Finance (QJF), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 4(04), pages 1-44.
    6. Miguel A. Ferreira & Paul A. Laux, 2007. "Corporate Governance, Idiosyncratic Risk, and Information Flow," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(2), pages 951-989, April.
    7. Karen K. Lewis, 2011. "Global Asset Pricing," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 3(1), pages 435-466, December.
    8. Art Durnev & Randall Morck & Bernard Yeung, 2004. "Value-Enhancing Capital Budgeting and Firm-specific Stock Return Variation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 59(1), pages 65-105, February.
    9. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-329, May.
    10. Doukas, John A. & Pantzalis, Christos, 2003. "Geographic diversification and agency costs of debt of multinational firms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 59-92, January.
    11. Xuguang Sheng & Orie Barron & Maya Thevenot, 2012. "Information Environment and the Cost of Capital: A New Approach," Working Papers 2012-12, American University, Department of Economics.
    12. Myers, Stewart C. & Majluf, Nicholas S., 1984. "Corporate financing and investment decisions when firms have information that investors do not have," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 187-221, June.
    13. Hutton, Amy P. & Marcus, Alan J. & Tehranian, Hassan, 2009. "Opaque financial reports, R2, and crash risk," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(1), pages 67-86, October.
    14. Amihud, Yakov, 2002. "Illiquidity and stock returns: cross-section and time-series effects," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 31-56, January.
    15. Conrad, Jennifer & Kaul, Gautam, 1988. "Time-Variation in Expected Returns," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 61(4), pages 409-425, October.
    16. Artyom Durnev & Randall Morck & Bernard Yeung & Paul Zarowin, 2003. "Does Greater Firm‐Specific Return Variation Mean More or Less Informed Stock Pricing?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(5), pages 797-836, December.
    17. repec:oup:rfinst:v:25:y::i:11:p:3351-3388 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Myers, Stewart C., 1984. "Capital structure puzzle," Working papers 1548-84., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    19. Jose Manuel Campa & Simi Kedia, 2002. "Explaining the Diversification Discount," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(4), pages 1731-1762, August.
    20. Myers, Stewart C, 1984. "The Capital Structure Puzzle," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 39(3), pages 575-592, July.
    21. Michael Faulkender & Mitchell Petersen, 2012. "Investment and Capital Constraints: Repatriations Under the American Jobs Creation Act," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(11), pages 3351-3388.
    22. Stewart C. Myers, 1984. "Capital Structure Puzzle," NBER Working Papers 1393, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    23. Jordan I. Siegel & Barbara Zepp Larson, 2009. "Labor Market Institutions and Global Strategic Adaptation: Evidence from Lincoln Electric," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(9), pages 1527-1546, September.
    24. David Easley & Maureen O'hara, 2004. "Information and the Cost of Capital," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 59(4), pages 1553-1583, August.
    25. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    26. Stewart C. Myers & Nicholas S. Majluf, 1984. "Corporate Financing and Investment Decisions When Firms Have InformationThat Investors Do Not Have," NBER Working Papers 1396, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    27. Jennifer Francis & Dhananjay Nanda & Per Olsson, 2008. "Voluntary Disclosure, Earnings Quality, and Cost of Capital," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(1), pages 53-99, March.
    28. Mitchell A. Petersen, 2009. "Estimating Standard Errors in Finance Panel Data Sets: Comparing Approaches," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(1), pages 435-480, January.
    29. Bodnar, Gordon M. & Weintrop, Joseph, 1997. "The valuation of the foreign income of US multinational firms: a growth opportunities perspective," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 69-97, December.
    30. Carhart, Mark M, 1997. "On Persistence in Mutual Fund Performance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 57-82, March.
    31. Doukas, John, 1995. "Overinvestment, Tobin's q and gains from foreign acquisitions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 19(7), pages 1285-1303, October.
    32. Thomas, Wayne B., 1999. "A test of the market's mispricing of domestic and foreign earnings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 243-267, December.
    33. Desai, Mihir A. & Foley, C. Fritz & Hines, James Jr., 2004. "The costs of shared ownership: Evidence from international joint ventures," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 323-374, August.
    34. Christie, Andrew A., 1987. "On cross-sectional analysis in accounting research," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 231-258, December.
    35. Ole-Kristian Hope & Tony Kang & Wayne B Thomas & Florin Vasvari, 2009. "The effects of SFAS 131 geographic segment disclosures by US multinational companies on the valuation of foreign earnings," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 40(3), pages 421-443, April.
    36. Jeffrey L. Callen & Ole‐Kristian Hope & Dan Segal, 2005. "Domestic and Foreign Earnings, Stock Return Variability, and the Impact of Investor Sophistication," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(3), pages 377-412, June.
    37. Juan M Rivera, 1991. "Prediction of Earnings Forecasts: The Case of U.S. Multinationals," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 22(2), pages 265-288, June.
    38. Ole‐Kristian Hope & Wayne B. Thomas, 2008. "Managerial Empire Building and Firm Disclosure," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(3), pages 591-626, June.
    39. Antia, Murad & Lin, J. Barry & Pantzalis, Christos, 2007. "Cultural distance and valuation of multinational corporations," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 365-383, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Likitwongkajon, Napaporn & Vithessonthi, Chaiporn, 2021. "The short- and long-run effects of foreign investments on firm performance: Evidence from Asia Pacific," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 366-385.
    2. Krapl, Alain A., 2017. "Asymmetric foreign exchange cash flow exposure: A firm-level analysis," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 48-72.
    3. Robinson Reyes-Peña & Arun Upadhyay & Arun Kumaraswamy, 2023. "Foreign competitive pressure and inversions by U.S. multinational enterprises," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 54(5), pages 829-851, July.
    4. Gyimah, Daniel & Kwansa, Nana Abena & Kyiu, Anthony K. & Sikochi, Anywhere (Siko), 2021. "Multinationality and capital structure dynamics: A corporate governance explanation," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    5. Likitwongkajon, Napaporn & Vithessonthi, Chaiporn, 2022. "Internationalization, foreign exchange exposure and firm risk," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    6. Ge, Wenxia & Kim, Jeong-Bon & Li, Tiemei & Li, Yutao, 2016. "Offshore operations and bank loan contracting: Evidence from firms that set up subsidiaries in offshore financial centers," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 335-355.
    7. Richardson, Grant & Taylor, Grantley & Obaydin, Ivan, 2020. "Does the use of tax haven subsidiaries by U.S. multinational corporations affect the cost of bank loans?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    8. Henry Agyei‐Boapeah & Samuel Fosu & Collins G. Ntim, 2020. "Corporate Multinationality and Acquirer Returns," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 56(2), pages 230-267, June.
    9. Tongurai, Jittima & Vithessonthi, Chaiporn, 2022. "Learning, foreign operations and operating performance," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    10. James, Hui Liang & Ngo, Thanh & Wang, Hongxia, 2021. "Independent director tenure and corporate transparency," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    11. Amine Tarazi & Iftekhar Hasan & Ibrahim Siraj & Qiang Wu, 2016. "Value Relevance of Earnings of Multinational Firms: Regulatory Regimes Associated with Foreign Subsidiaries," Working Papers hal-01360048, HAL.
    12. So, Jacky Yuk-chow & Zhang, John Fan, 2022. "The effect of cultural heterogeneity on cash holdings of multinational businesses," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Joliet, Robert & Muller, Aline, 2013. "Capital structure effects of international expansion," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 375-393.
    2. Wei Hao & Andrew Prevost & Udomsak Wongchoti, 2018. "Are Low Equity R2 Firms More or Less Transparent? Evidence from the Corporate Bond Market," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 47(4), pages 865-909, December.
    3. Cheng, Louis T.W. & Wang, Jacqueline Wenjie, 2021. "Equity ownership and corporate transparency: International evidence," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 143-165.
    4. Mamatzakis, Emmanuel & Zhang, Xiaoxiang & Wang, Chaoke, 2016. "Invisible hand discipline from informed trading: Does market discipline from trading affect bank capital structure?," MPRA Paper 76215, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Wenjing Ouyang & Samuel H. Szewczyk, 2018. "Stock price informativeness on the sensitivity of strategic M&A investment to Q," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 50(3), pages 745-774, April.
    6. César Camisón & José Antonio Clemente & Sergio Camisón-Haba, 2022. "Asset tangibility, information asymmetries and intangibles as determinants of family firms leverage," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 16(7), pages 2047-2082, October.
    7. Huang, Kershen & Shang, Chenguang, 2019. "Leverage, debt maturity, and social capital," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 26-46.
    8. Mohammed Benlemlih & Mohammad Bitar, 2018. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Investment Efficiency," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 148(3), pages 647-671, March.
    9. Yang, Junhong & Guariglia, Alessandra & Guo, Jie (Michael), 2019. "To what extent does corporate liquidity affect M&A decisions, method of payment and performance? Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 128-152.
    10. Fischer, Mario, 2017. "The source of financing in mergers and acquisitions," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 227-239.
    11. Park, Heewoo & Kim, Tong Suk & Park, Yuen Jung, 2021. "Asymmetric information in the equity market and information flow from the equity market to the CDS market," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    12. De George, Emmanuel T. & Li, Xi & Shivakumar, Lakshmanan, 2016. "A review of the IFRS adoption literature," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 67599, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Aabo, Tom & Pantzalis, Christos & Park, Jung Chul, 2017. "Idiosyncratic volatility: An indicator of noise trading?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 136-151.
    14. Chen, Tao & Xie, Lingmin & Zhang, Yuanyuan, 2017. "How does analysts' forecast quality relate to corporate investment efficiency?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 217-240.
    15. Emmanuel T. De George & Xi Li & Lakshmanan Shivakumar, 2016. "A review of the IFRS adoption literature," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 898-1004, September.
    16. Karim Ben Khediri, 2021. "CSR and investment efficiency in Western European countries," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(6), pages 1769-1784, November.
    17. Bo-Hung Chiou & Shen-Ho Chang, 2020. "Influence of Investment Efficiency by Managers and Accounting Conservatism on Idiosyncratic Risks to Investors," Advances in Management and Applied Economics, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 10(1), pages 1-8.
    18. Xin Qu & Majella Percy & Fang Hu & Jenny Stewart, 2022. "Can CEO equity‐based compensation limit investment‐related agency problems?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(2), pages 2579-2614, June.
    19. Andres, Christian & Cumming, Douglas & Karabiber, Timur & Schweizer, Denis, 2014. "Do markets anticipate capital structure decisions? — Feedback effects in equity liquidity," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 133-156.
    20. Keming Li, 2021. "The effect of option trading," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 7(1), pages 1-32, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Multiple regression analysis; Internationalization theory; Stock market valuation; Stock prices; Multinationality; Opaqueness;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:corfin:v:30:y:2015:i:c:p:65-84. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jcorpfin .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.