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The lifecycle of the firm, corporate governance and investment performance

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  • Jimmy A. Saravia

Abstract

According to firm lifecycle theory the agency costs of free cash flows are not transitory problems, but are a recurrent issue once firms reach a certain stage in their lifecycle. In particular, as firms mature their cash flows increase substantially while their investment opportunities decline and, to prevent retrenchment, managements need to invest in negative net present value projects. However, too much overinvestment leads to low firm valuation and potentially a hostile takeover. This paper extends firm lifecycle theory by arguing that to neutralize the threat of takeover, managements of maturing firms and their boards of directors progressively deploy antitakeover provisions which allow them to overinvest safely and prevent a decline in the size of their corporations. Firm lifecycle theory is also tested empirically. In this respect, a contribution of this paper is to develop a new empirical index that permits the identification of mature corporations with governance problems due to agency costs of free cash flows. The empirical results show that as firms mature agency costs of free cash flows increase, more antitakeover provisions are put into place and firms invest in projects with returns below their cost of capital.

Suggested Citation

  • Jimmy A. Saravia, 2013. "The lifecycle of the firm, corporate governance and investment performance," Documentos de Trabajo de Valor Público 10927, Universidad EAFIT.
    • Handle: RePEc:col:000122:010927
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Jimmy A. Saravia & Carlos S. García & Paula M. Almonacid, 2021. "The determinants of systematic risk: A firm lifecycle perspective," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(1), pages 1037-1049, January.
    2. Bianchini, Stefano & Krafft, Jackie & Quatraro, Francesco & Ravix, Jacques, 2015. "Corporate Governance, Innovation and Firm Age: Insights and New Evidence," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis LEI & BRICK - Laboratory of Economics of Innovation "Franco Momigliano", Bureau of Research in Innovation, Complexity and Knowledge, Collegio 201502, University of Turin.
    3. Jimmy A. Saravia & Silvia Saravia-Matus, 2014. "Corporate governance and transaction cost economics: A study of the equity governance structure," Documentos de Trabajo de Valor Público 11997, Universidad EAFIT.
    4. Jimmy A. Saravia, 2014. "Why has the literature on corporate governance and firm performance yielded mixed results?," Documentos de Trabajo de Valor Público 10914, Universidad EAFIT.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Firm Life Cycle; Free Cash flows; Corporate Governance; Overinvestment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G31 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Capital Budgeting; Fixed Investment and Inventory Studies
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance

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