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Corporate Strategy, Conformism, and the Stock Market

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  • Foucault, Thierry
  • Frésard, Laurent

Abstract

We show that managers can raise firm value by imitating other public firms' strategies because imitation enhances their ability to obtain information from their own stock price or their peers' stock prices, which improves the efficiency of their investment decisions. This conformity effect is stronger for private firms' managers because they can learn information from stock prices only if they imitate public firms' strategies. In line with this prediction, we observe empirically that firms differentiate more after going public and that this pattern is stronger for firms with better informed managers or whose peers have less informative stock prices.

Suggested Citation

  • Foucault, Thierry & Frésard, Laurent, 2016. "Corporate Strategy, Conformism, and the Stock Market," CEPR Discussion Papers 11073, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11073
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    4. Liu, Frank Hong & Norden, Lars & Spargoli, Fabrizio, 2020. "Does uniqueness in banking matter?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    5. Jaspersen, Stefan, 2021. "Mutual Fund Bets on Market Power," CFR Working Papers 16-07, University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR), revised 2021.
    6. Ghulam Hussain Khan Zaigham & Xiangning Wang & Haji Suleman Ali, 2019. "Causal Relation Between Stock Market Performance and Firm Investment in China: Mediating Role of Information Asymmetry," SAGE Open, , vol. 9(4), pages 21582440198, October.
    7. Xiong, Yan & Yang, Liyan, 2021. "Disclosure, competition, and learning from asset prices," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    8. Paul Borochin & Jie Yang, 2016. "Options, Equity Risks, and the Value of Capital Structure Adjustments," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2016-097, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    9. Caio Machado & Ana Elisa Pereira, 2023. "Optimal Capital Structure with Stock Market Feedback," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 27(4), pages 1329-1371.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Managerial learning; Peers; Product differentiation; Stock price informativeness;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • G31 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Capital Budgeting; Fixed Investment and Inventory Studies

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