IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/men/wpaper/102_2025.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The “Cinderella†effect in business groups: Choosing Which Subsidiary is the Princess

Author

Listed:
  • Jan Hanousek, Jr.

    (Fogelman College of Business Economics, University of Memphis, United States)

  • Mark J. Flannery

    (Department of Finance, University of Florida, United States)

  • Stephen P. Ferris

    (Ryan College of Business, University of North Texas, United States)

  • Jan Hanousek

    (Department of Department of Finance and Accounting, Faculty of Business and Economics, Mendel University in Brno, Czech Republic; CEPR, London, United Kingdom)

  • Svatopluk Kapounek

    (Department of Finance and Accounting, Faculty of Business and Economics, Mendel University in Brno, Czech Republic)

Abstract

This study examines the nature of financial distress for firms within business groups distributed across twenty-five European countries from 2000 to 2018. We show that business group membership and a firm’s importance within the group explain both the incidence and resolution of financial distress. We find that critical subsidiaries have a negligible chance of default and bankruptcy. Less critical firms, however, are more likely to default and liquidate. It suggests that the future resolution of financial distress could be decided during the group formation and the subsidiary's positioning. We also show the persistent effect of national legal regimes.

Suggested Citation

  • Jan Hanousek, Jr. & Mark J. Flannery & Stephen P. Ferris & Jan Hanousek & Svatopluk Kapounek, 2025. "The “Cinderella†effect in business groups: Choosing Which Subsidiary is the Princess," MENDELU Working Papers in Business and Economics 2025-102, Mendel University in Brno, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:men:wpaper:102_2025
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://ftp.mendelu.cz/RePEc/men/wpaper/102_2025.pdf
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Almamy, Jeehan & Aston, John & Ngwa, Leonard N., 2016. "An evaluation of Altman's Z-score using cash flow ratio to predict corporate failure amid the recent financial crisis: Evidence from the UK," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 278-285.
    2. Holmes, R. Michael & Hoskisson, Robert E. & Kim, Hicheon & Wan, William P. & Holcomb, Tim R., 2018. "International strategy and business groups: A review and future research agenda," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 134-150.
    3. Alberto Abadie & Guido W. Imbens, 2011. "Bias-Corrected Matching Estimators for Average Treatment Effects," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(1), pages 1-11, January.
    4. Edward I. Altman, 2018. "Applications of Distress Prediction Models: What Have We Learned After 50 Years from the Z-Score Models?," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-15, August.
    5. Strebulaev, Ilya A. & Yang, Baozhong, 2013. "The mystery of zero-leverage firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(1), pages 1-23.
    6. Alberto Abadie & Guido W. Imbens, 2006. "Large Sample Properties of Matching Estimators for Average Treatment Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 74(1), pages 235-267, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Lucija Muehlenbachs & Elisheba Spiller & Christopher Timmins, 2015. "The Housing Market Impacts of Shale Gas Development," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(12), pages 3633-3659, December.
    2. Ghadir Asadi & Mohammad H. Mostafavi-Dehzooei, 2022. "The Role of Learning in Adaptation to Technology: The Case of Groundwater Extraction," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-37, June.
    3. Jonathon Adams‐Kane & Julián A. Caballero & Jamus Jerome Lim, 2017. "Foreign Bank Behavior during Financial Crises," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 49(2-3), pages 351-392, March.
    4. Tymon Słoczyński, 2015. "The Oaxaca–Blinder Unexplained Component as a Treatment Effects Estimator," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 77(4), pages 588-604, August.
    5. Jeremy Michels, 2017. "Disclosure Versus Recognition: Inferences from Subsequent Events," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 55(1), pages 3-34, March.
    6. Caballero, Julián, 2021. "Corporate dollar debt and depreciations: All’s well that ends well?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    7. Hünermund, Paul & Czarnitzki, Dirk, 2019. "Estimating the causal effect of R&D subsidies in a pan-European program," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 115-124.
    8. Ostapchuk, Igor & Gagalyuk, Taras & Curtiss, Jarmila, 2021. "Post-acquisition integration and growth of farms: The case of Ukrainian agroholdings," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 24(4), pages 615-636.
    9. José Jorge & Joana Rocha, 2018. "Agglomeration and Industry Spillover Effects in the Aftermath of a Credit Shock," CEF.UP Working Papers 1801, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    10. Heissel, Jennifer, 2016. "The relative benefits of live versus online delivery: Evidence from virtual algebra I in North Carolina," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 99-115.
    11. Balduzzi, Pierluigi & Brancati, Emanuele & Brianti, Marco & Schiantarelli, Fabio, 2024. "Credit constraints and firms’ decisions: Lessons from the COVID-19 outbreak," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    12. Andr'es Ram'irez-Hassan & Raquel Vargas-Correa & Gustavo Garc'ia & Daniel Londo~no, 2020. "Optimal selection of the number of control units in kNN algorithm to estimate average treatment effects," Papers 2008.06564, arXiv.org.
    13. Francesca Baratta & Elena Folpini & Michele Ciccolella & Paola Brusa, 2023. "Patient Care in Community Pharmacies during the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) Pandemic: Effectiveness of Post-Graduate Education and Further Training Courses on Revenues," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-8, February.
    14. Jeon, Jin Q. & Lee, Cheolwoo & Nasser, Tareque & Via, M. Tony, 2015. "Multiple lead underwriter IPOs and firm visibility," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 128-149.
    15. Qunyong Wang & Zhongwu Li & Xueliang Feng, 2019. "Does the Happiness of Contemporary Women in China Depend on Their Husbands’ Achievements?," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 710-728, December.
    16. Bekkouche, Yasmine & Cagé, Julia & Dewitte, Edgard, 2022. "The heterogeneous price of a vote: Evidence from multiparty systems, 1993–2017," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    17. Belaïd, Fateh & Flambard, Véronique, 2023. "Boosting buildings energy efficiency: The impact of social norms and motivational feedback," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 215(C), pages 26-39.
    18. Guido W. Imbens & Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, 2009. "Recent Developments in the Econometrics of Program Evaluation," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(1), pages 5-86, March.
    19. Yihui He & Fang Han, 2023. "On propensity score matching with a diverging number of matches," Papers 2310.14142, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2023.
    20. Graf, Nikolaus & Hofer, Helmut & Winter-Ebmer, Rudolf, 2011. "Labor supply effects of a subsidized old-age part-time scheme in Austria," Zeitschrift für ArbeitsmarktForschung - Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 44(3), pages 217-229.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • G33 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Bankruptcy; Liquidation
    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

    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:men:wpaper:102_2025. 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: Luděk Kouba (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/femencz.html .

    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.