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Does familiarity with business segments affect CEOs' divestment decisions?

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  • Ang, James
  • de Jong, Abe
  • van der Poel, Marieke

Abstract

We examine the impact of familiarity with business segments on CEOs' divestment decisions. We find CEOs are less likely to divest assets from familiar than from non-familiar segments. We attribute this effect to CEOs' comparative information advantage with respect to familiar segments. Consistent with this information advantage, we document that the familiarity effect is particularly strong in R&D intensive industries. We further find the familiarity effect to be most pronounced for longer-tenured CEOs who have built up sufficient political power over the course of several years in office to enable implementation of their preferred divestment choices. We also document the value effects of divestments and show that familiarity affects returns on divestment announcements.

Suggested Citation

  • Ang, James & de Jong, Abe & van der Poel, Marieke, 2014. "Does familiarity with business segments affect CEOs' divestment decisions?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 58-74.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:corfin:v:29:y:2014:i:c:p:58-74
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2014.07.004
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    Cited by:

    1. Pengfei Wang & Michael Jensen, 2019. "A Bridge Too Far: Divestiture as a Strategic Reaction to Status Inconsistency," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(2), pages 859-878, February.
    2. Wu, Yan & Strange, Roger & Shirodkar, Vikrant, 2021. "MNE divestments of foreign affiliates: Does the strategic role of the affiliate have an impact?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 266-278.
    3. Wang, Ye & Yin, Sirui, 2018. "CEO educational background and acquisition targets selection," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 238-259.
    4. Chen, Hsuan-Chi & Harper, Joel T. & Iyer, Subramanian R., 2018. "Economic shock and share repurchases," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 254-264.
    5. Xu, Yan & Xu, Nianhang & Chan, Kam C. & Li, Zhe, 2021. "Generalists vs. specialists: Who are better acquirers?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).

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