IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v130y2021icp698-708.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Tax haven ownership and business groups: Tax avoidance incentives in Ecuadorian firms

Author

Listed:
  • Granda, María L.

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to assess the existence of transactions within business groups in Ecuador with the motivation of reducing their tax burden, and to characterize the conditions of this behavior. It estimated the differential sensitivity of profitability to the marginal tax rate and found the tax response coefficient between group and stand-alone firms to be significantly different, supporting the hypothesis of tax avoidance. Business group characteristics affect the decision to shift profits away from firms with higher tax rates to affiliates with lower tax rates. The use of tax haven ownership in Ecuadorian firms was also explored, as well as the effect of a legal reform to discourage this scheme. This analysis seeks to contribute to the understanding of this business configuration and to the design of policies that improve the efficiency of the taxation system of business groups and tax havens.

Suggested Citation

  • Granda, María L., 2021. "Tax haven ownership and business groups: Tax avoidance incentives in Ecuadorian firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 698-708.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:130:y:2021:i:c:p:698-708
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.07.012
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296320304537
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.07.012?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. Tarun Khanna & Jan W. Rivkin, 2001. "Estimating the performance effects of business groups in emerging markets," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 45-74, January.
    2. Kooyul Jung & Boyoung Kim & Byungmo Kim, 2009. "Tax Motivated Income Shifting and Korean Business Groups (Chaebol)," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(5‐6), pages 552-586, June.
    3. Randall Morck, 2005. "How to Eliminate Pyramidal Business Groups: The Double Taxation of Intercorporate Dividends and Other Incisive Uses of Tax Policy," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 19, pages 135-179, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Gramlich, J.D.Jeffrey D. & Limpaphayom, Piman & Ghon Rhee, S., 2004. "Taxes, keiretsu affiliation, and income shifting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 203-228, June.
    5. Paul Carrillo & Dina Pomeranz & Monica Singhal, 2017. "Dodging the Taxman: Firm Misreporting and Limits to Tax Enforcement," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(2), pages 144-164, April.
    6. George, Rejie & Kabir, Rezaul, 2008. "Business groups and profit redistribution: A boon or bane for firms?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 61(9), pages 1004-1014, September.
    7. Sungwon Park, 2018. "Related Party Transactions and Tax Avoidance of Business Groups," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-14, October.
    8. Weichieh Su & Danchi Tan, 2018. "Business Groups and Tax Havens," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(4), pages 1067-1081, December.
    9. Berhanu Abegaz, 2005. "The diversified business group as an innovative organisational model for large state-enterprise reform in China and Vietnam," International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 5(5/6), pages 379-400.
    10. Alvaro Cuervo-Cazurra, 2006. "Business groups and their types," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 419-437, December.
    11. Clemens Fuest & Nadine Riedel, 2010. "Tax Evasion and Tax Avoidance in Developing Countries: The Role of International Profit Shifting," Working Papers 1012, Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation.
    12. Kooyul Jung & Boyoung Kim & Byungmo Kim, 2009. "Tax Motivated Income Shifting and Korean Business Groups (Chaebol)," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(5-6), pages 552-586.
    13. Tarun Khanna & Yishay Yafeh, 2007. "Business Groups in Emerging Markets: Paragons or Parasites?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 45(2), pages 331-372, June.
    14. Michael Carney & Daniel Shapiro & Yao Tang, 2009. "Business Group Performance in China: Ownership and Temporal Considerations," Management and Organization Review, The International Association for Chinese Management Research, vol. 5(2), pages 167-193, July.
    15. Carney, Michael & Estrin, Saul & Van Essen, Marc & Shapiro, Daniel, 2017. "Business groups reconsidered: beyond paragons and parasites," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 87340, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    16. Demsetz, Harold, 1983. "The Structure of Ownership and the Theory of the Firm," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(2), pages 375-390, June.
    17. Elango, B. & Pattnaik, Chinmay & Wieland, Jamie R., 2016. "Do business group characteristics matter? An exploration on the drivers of performance variation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(9), pages 3205-3212.
    18. Sharon Poczter, 2018. "Business Groups in Emerging Markets: A Survey and Analysis," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(5), pages 1150-1182, April.
    19. Desai, Mihir A. & Foley, C. Fritz & Hines, James Jr., 2006. "The demand for tax haven operations," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(3), pages 513-531, February.
    20. Berhanu Abegaz, 2005. "The Diversified Business Group as an Innovative Organizational Model for Large State-Enterprise Reform in China and Vietnam," Working Papers 13, Department of Economics, College of William and Mary.
    21. Borda, Armando & Geleilate, José-Mauricio G. & Newburry, William & Kundu, Sumit K., 2017. "Firm internationalization, business group diversification and firm performance: The case of Latin American firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 104-113.
    22. Singh, Manohar & Nejadmalayeri, Ali & Mathur, Ike, 2007. "Performance impact of business group affiliation: An analysis of the diversification-performance link in a developing economy," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 60(4), pages 339-347, April.
    23. Randall S. Jones, 2018. "Reforming the large business groups to promote productivity and inclusion in Korea," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1509, OECD Publishing.
    24. Silva, Francisca & Majluf, Nicolas & Paredes, Ricardo D., 2006. "Family ties, interlocking directors and performance of business groups in emerging countries: The case of Chile," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 59(3), pages 315-321, March.
    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. Luis Alfonso Dau & Randall Morck & Bernard Yin Yeung, 2021. "Business groups and the study of international business: A Coasean synthesis and extension," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 52(2), pages 161-211, March.
    2. Carney, Michael & Estrin, Saul & Van Essen, Marc & Shapiro, Daniel, 2017. "Business groups reconsidered: beyond paragons and parasites," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 87340, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Roderick Bugador, 2015. "The Stages Of International Growth Of The Business Groups From Emerging Economies," Organizations and Markets in Emerging Economies, Faculty of Economics, Vilnius University, vol. 6(2).
    4. Michael Carney, 2008. "The many futures of Asian business groups," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 25(4), pages 595-613, December.
    5. Gama, Marina Amado Bahia & Bandeira-de-Mello, Rodrigo, 2021. "The effect of affiliation structure on the performance of pyramidal business groups," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 24-37.
    6. Choi, Young Rok & Zahra, Shaker A. & Yoshikawa, Toru & Han, Bong H., 2015. "Family ownership and R&D investment: The role of growth opportunities and business group membership," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(5), pages 1053-1061.
    7. Aggarwal, Raj & Jindal, Varun & Seth, Rama, 2019. "Board diversity and firm performance: The role of business group affiliation," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 1-1.
    8. Bamiatzi, Vassiliki & Cavusgil, Salih Tamer & Jabbour, Liza & Sinkovics, Rudolf R., 2014. "Does business group affiliation help firms achieve superior performance during industrial downturns? An empirical examination," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 195-211.
    9. An Buysschaert & Marc Deloof & Marc Jegers & An Rommens, 2008. "Is Group Affiliation Profitable in Developed Countries? Belgian Evidence," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(6), pages 504-518, November.
    10. Kyoung-Soo Yoon & Yangsoo Jin, 2021. "Related party transactions, agency problem, and exclusive effects," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 51(1), pages 1-30, February.
    11. Ng Sin Huei, 2014. "How Does Group Affiliation Affect The Diversification Performance Of Family-Controlled Firms In Malaysia? – A Governance Perspective," Asian Academy of Management Journal of Accounting and Finance (AAMJAF), Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia, vol. 10(2), pages 81-115.
    12. George, Rejie & Kabir, Rezaul, 2008. "Business groups and profit redistribution: A boon or bane for firms?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 61(9), pages 1004-1014, September.
    13. Mahdi Tajeddin & Michael Carney, 2019. "African Business Groups: How Does Group Affiliation Improve SMEs’ Export Intensity?," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 43(6), pages 1194-1222, November.
    14. Ishtiaq Ahmad & Judit Oláh & József Popp & Domicián Máté, 2018. "Does Business Group Affiliation Matter for Superior Performance? Evidence from Pakistan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-19, August.
    15. Rodriguez, Carlos & Torres, Jose, 2020. "Central coordination and profitability in large Latin American business groups," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 599-609.
    16. Shahab, Yasir & Hussain, Tanveer & Wang, Peng & Zhong, Ma & Kumar, Satish, 2023. "Business groups and environmental violations: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    17. Min, Yijie & Liao, Yi-Chuan & Chen, Zhijun, 2022. "The side effect of business group membership: How do business group isomorphic pressures affect organizational innovation in affiliated firms?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 380-392.
    18. Popli, Manish & Ladkani, Radha M. & Gaur, Ajai S., 2017. "Business group affiliation and post-acquisition performance: An extended resource-based view," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 21-30.
    19. Sharon Belenzon & Tomer Berkovitz, 2010. "Innovation in Business Groups," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(3), pages 519-535, March.
    20. Mike Peng & Yi Jiang, 2006. "Family Ownership And Control In Large Firms: The Good, The Bad, The Irrelevant ??? And Why," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series wp840, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.

    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:jbrese:v:130:y:2021:i:c:p:698-708. 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/jbusres .

    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.