IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/joares/v59y2021i4p1261-1302.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Copycat Skills and Disclosure Costs: Evidence from Peer Companies’ Digital Footprints

Author

Listed:
  • SEAN SHUN CAO
  • KAI DU
  • BAOZHONG YANG
  • ALAN L. ZHANG

Abstract

We examine whether firms that imitate peer companies’ strategies (copycats) profit from such behavior and how their success may cause competitive harm to disclosing companies. We identify copycat companies by tracking the digital footprints of investment companies that view disclosures on the SEC EDGAR Web site. We find that copycat companies are able to identify profitable trades that outperform other trades disclosed by the copycatted companies by 5.5% annually. Such stock‐screening skills are related to investment sophistication and research intensity. Furthermore, copycats inflict greater damage on the performance of disclosing companies when they possess superior copycat skills, when disclosed trading strategies take longer to complete, and when disclosed stock holdings are characterized by high information asymmetry.

Suggested Citation

  • Sean Shun Cao & Kai Du & Baozhong Yang & Alan L. Zhang, 2021. "Copycat Skills and Disclosure Costs: Evidence from Peer Companies’ Digital Footprints," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(4), pages 1261-1302, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:joares:v:59:y:2021:i:4:p:1261-1302
    DOI: 10.1111/1475-679X.12369
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-679X.12369
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1475-679X.12369?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bernard, Darren, 2016. "Is the risk of product market predation a cost of disclosure?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 305-325.
    2. Hayes, RM & Lundholm, R, 1996. "Segment reporting to the capital market in the presence of a competitor," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(2), pages 261-279.
    3. Angrist, Joshua D., 2014. "The perils of peer effects," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 98-108.
    4. Vikas Agarwal & Kevin A. Mullally & Yuehua Tang & Baozhong Yang, 2015. "Mandatory Portfolio Disclosure, Stock Liquidity, and Mutual Fund Performance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(6), pages 2733-2776, December.
    5. Agarwal, Vikas & Gay, Gerald D. & Ling, Leng, 2014. "Window dressing in mutual funds," CFR Working Papers 11-07 [rev.3], University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    6. Vikas Agarwal & Wei Jiang & Yuehua Tang & Baozhong Yang, 2013. "Uncovering Hedge Fund Skill from the Portfolio Holdings They Hide," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(2), pages 739-783, April.
    7. Lee, Charles M.C. & Ma, Paul & Wang, Charles C.Y., 2015. "Search-based peer firms: Aggregating investor perceptions through internet co-searches," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(2), pages 410-431.
    8. Charles F. Manski, 1993. "Identification of Endogenous Social Effects: The Reflection Problem," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 60(3), pages 531-542.
    9. Marcin Kacperczyk & Clemens Sialm & Lu Zheng, 2008. "Unobserved Actions of Mutual Funds," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(6), pages 2379-2416, November.
    10. Glaeser, Stephen, 2018. "The effects of proprietary information on corporate disclosure and transparency: Evidence from trade secrets," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 163-193.
    11. Verbeek, Marno & Wang, Yu, 2013. "Better than the original? The relative success of copycat funds," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(9), pages 3454-3471.
    12. Blake Phillips & Kuntara Pukthuanthong & P. Raghavendra Rau, 2014. "Detecting Superior Mutual Fund Managers: Evidence from Copycats," The Review of Asset Pricing Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 4(2), pages 286-321.
    13. Christian Leuz, 2018. "Evidence-based policymaking: promise, challenges and opportunities for accounting and financial markets research," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(5), pages 582-608, July.
    14. John M. Griffin & Jin Xu, 2009. "How Smart Are the Smart Guys? A Unique View from Hedge Fund Stock Holdings," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(7), pages 2331-2370, July.
    15. Jonathan L. Rogers & Douglas J. Skinner & Sarah L. C. Zechman, 2017. "Run EDGAR Run: SEC Dissemination in a High‐Frequency World," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(2), pages 459-505, May.
    16. Vives, Xavier, 1984. "Duopoly information equilibrium: Cournot and bertrand," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 71-94, October.
    17. Yinghua Li & Yupeng Lin & Liandong Zhang, 2018. "Trade Secrets Law and Corporate Disclosure: Causal Evidence on the Proprietary Cost Hypothesis," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(1), pages 265-308, March.
    18. Beyer, Anne & Cohen, Daniel A. & Lys, Thomas Z. & Walther, Beverly R., 2010. "The financial reporting environment: Review of the recent literature," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 296-343, December.
    19. Kosowski, Robert & Naik, Narayan Y. & Teo, Melvyn, 2007. "Do hedge funds deliver alpha? A Bayesian and bootstrap analysis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 229-264, April.
    20. Ali, Ashiq & Klasa, Sandy & Yeung, Eric, 2014. "Industry concentration and corporate disclosure policy," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 240-264.
    21. Sanjeev Bhojraj & Young Jun Cho & Nir Yehuda, 2012. "Mutual Fund Family Size and Mutual Fund Performance: The Role of Regulatory Changes," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(3), pages 647-684, June.
    22. Chen, Huaizhi & Cohen, Lauren & Gurun, Umit & Lou, Dong & Malloy, Christopher, 2020. "IQ from IP: simplifying search in portfolio choice," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 101133, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    23. Dyer, Travis A., 2021. "The demand for public information by local and nonlocal investors: Evidence from investor-level data," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(1).
    24. Chen, Huaizhi & Cohen, Lauren & Gurun, Umit & Lou, Dong & Malloy, Christopher, 2020. "IQ from IP: Simplifying search in portfolio choice," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(1), pages 118-137.
    25. Huddart, Steven & Hughes, John S & Levine, Carolyn B, 2001. "Public Disclosure and Dissimulation of Insider Trades," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 69(3), pages 665-681, May.
    26. Christian Leuz & Peter D. Wysocki, 2016. "The Economics of Disclosure and Financial Reporting Regulation: Evidence and Suggestions for Future Research," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 525-622, May.
    27. Frank, Mary Margaret & Poterba, James M & Shackelford, Douglas A & Shoven, John B, 2004. "Copycat Funds: Information Disclosure Regulation and the Returns to Active Management in the Mutual Fund Industry," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 47(2), pages 515-541, October.
    28. Shi, Zhen, 2017. "The impact of portfolio disclosure on hedge fund performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(1), pages 36-53.
    29. Gigler, F, 1994. "Self-Enforcing Voluntary Disclosures," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 224-240.
    30. Wagenhofer, Alfred, 1990. "Voluntary disclosure with a strategic opponent," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 341-363, March.
    31. Vikas Agarwal & Gerald D. Gay & Leng Ling, 2014. "Window Dressing in Mutual Funds," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 27(11), pages 3133-3170.
    32. Aragon, George O. & Hertzel, Michael & Shi, Zhen, 2013. "Why Do Hedge Funds Avoid Disclosure? Evidence from Confidential 13F Filings," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 48(5), pages 1499-1518, October.
    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. Sani, Jalal & Shroff, Nemit & White, Hal, 2023. "Spillover effects of mandatory portfolio disclosures on corporate investment," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(2).
    2. Pan, Junyu & Cifuentes-Faura, Javier & Zhao, Xin & Liu, Xiaoqian, 2024. "Unlocking the impact of digital technology progress and entry dynamics on firm's total factor productivity in Chinese industries," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    3. Dou, Yiwei & Hung, Mingyi & She, Guoman & Wang, Lynn Linghuan, 2024. "Learning from peers: Evidence from disclosure of consumer complaints," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(2).

    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. Sani, Jalal & Shroff, Nemit & White, Hal, 2023. "Spillover effects of mandatory portfolio disclosures on corporate investment," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(2).
    2. Vikas Agarwal & Stefan Ruenzi & Florian Weigert, 2018. "Unobserved Performance of Hedge Funds," Working Papers on Finance 1825, University of St. Gallen, School of Finance.
    3. Vikas Agarwal & Kevin A. Mullally & Yuehua Tang & Baozhong Yang, 2015. "Mandatory Portfolio Disclosure, Stock Liquidity, and Mutual Fund Performance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(6), pages 2733-2776, December.
    4. Hu, Gang & Jo, Koren M. & Wang, Yi Alex & Xie, Jing, 2018. "Institutional trading and Abel Noser data," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 143-167.
    5. Shi, Zhen, 2017. "The impact of portfolio disclosure on hedge fund performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(1), pages 36-53.
    6. Jank, Stephan & Roling, Christoph & Smajlbegovic, Esad, 2021. "Flying under the radar: The effects of short-sale disclosure rules on investor behavior and stock prices," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(1), pages 209-233.
    7. Christian Leuz & Peter D. Wysocki, 2016. "The Economics of Disclosure and Financial Reporting Regulation: Evidence and Suggestions for Future Research," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 525-622, May.
    8. Agarwal, Vikas & Gay, Gerald D. & Ling, Leng, 2014. "Window dressing in mutual funds," CFR Working Papers 11-07 [rev.3], University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    9. Richard Frankel & Joshua Lee & Zawadi Lemayian, 2018. "Proprietary costs and sealing documents in patent litigation," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 452-486, June.
    10. Hung, Pi-Hsia & Lien, Donald & Kuo, Ming-Sin, 2020. "Window dressing in equity mutual funds," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 338-354.
    11. Eliezer Fich & Viktoriya Lantushenko & Clemens Sialm, 2019. "Institutional Trading Around M&A Announcements," NBER Working Papers 25814, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Gregory-Allen, Russell & Balli, Hatice Ozer & Thompson, Kathleen, 2019. "The impact of portfolio holdings disclosure on fund returns," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    13. Rama Malladi & Frank J. Fabozzi, 2017. "Skillful hiding: evaluating hedge fund managers’ performance based on what they hide," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(7), pages 664-676, February.
    14. Agarwal, Vikas & Mullally, Kevin & Tang, Yuehua & Yang, Baozhong, 2013. "Mandatory portfolio disclosure, stock liquidity, and mutual fund performance," CFR Working Papers 13-04, University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    15. Roychowdhury, Sugata & Shroff, Nemit & Verdi, Rodrigo S., 2019. "The effects of financial reporting and disclosure on corporate investment: A review," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2).
    16. Christensen, Hans B. & Liu, Lisa Yao & Maffett, Mark, 2020. "Proactive financial reporting enforcement and shareholder wealth," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(2).
    17. Liang, Chuchu, 2024. "Advertising rivalry and discretionary disclosure," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1).
    18. Callen, Jeffrey L. & Fang, Xiaohua & Zhang, Wenjun, 2020. "Protection of proprietary information and financial reporting opacity: Evidence from a natural experiment," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    19. Nezafat, Mahdi & Shen, Tao & Wang, Qinghai & Wu, Julie, 2022. "Longs, shorts, and the cross-section of stock returns," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    20. Chen, Yong & Kelly, Bryan & Wu, Wei, 2020. "Sophisticated investors and market efficiency: Evidence from a natural experiment," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(2), pages 316-341.

    More about this item

    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:bla:joares:v:59:y:2021:i:4:p:1261-1302. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0021-8456 .

    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.