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Portfolio Diversification, Market Power, and the Theory of the Firm

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  • Azar, José

    (IESE Business School)

Abstract

This paper develops a model of firm behavior in the context of oligopoly and portfolio diversification by shareholders. Competition for shareholder votes among potential managers seeking corporate office leads to internalization and aggregation of shareholder objectives, including shareholdings in other firms, and the fact that shareholders are consumers and workers of the firms. When all shareholders hold market portfolios, firms that are formally separate behave as a single firm. I introduce new indices that capture the internalization effects from consumer/worker control, and discuss implications for antitrust, stakeholder theory, and the boundaries of the firm.

Suggested Citation

  • Azar, José, 2017. "Portfolio Diversification, Market Power, and the Theory of the Firm," IESE Research Papers D/1170, IESE Business School.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebg:iesewp:d-1170
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    File URL: http://www.iese.edu/research/pdfs/WP-1170-E.pdf
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    Cited by:

    1. Brito, Duarte & Ribeiro, Ricardo & Vasconcelos, Helder, 2019. "Can partial horizontal ownership lessen competition more than a monopoly?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 90-95.
    2. Brito, Duarte & Osório, António & Ribeiro, Ricardo & Vasconcelos, Helder, 2018. "Unilateral effects screens for partial horizontal acquisitions: The generalized HHI and GUPPI," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 127-189.
    3. Hutschenreiter, Dennis, 2023. "Common Ownership and the Market for Technology," VfS Annual Conference 2023 (Regensburg): Growth and the "sociale Frage" 277640, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    4. Melissa Newham & Jo Seldeslachts & Albert Banal-Estanol, 2018. "Common ownership and market entry: Evidence from the pharmaceutical industry," Working Papers of Department of Management, Strategy and Innovation, Leuven 623896, KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), Department of Management, Strategy and Innovation, Leuven.
    5. Andrea Pawliczek & A. Nicole Skinner & Sarah L. C. Zechman, 2022. "Facilitating Tacit Collusion Through Voluntary Disclosure: Evidence from Common Ownership," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(5), pages 1651-1693, December.
    6. Park, Jihwon & Sani, Jalal & Shroff, Nemit & White, Hal, 2019. "Disclosure incentives when competing firms have common ownership," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 387-415.
    7. Vives, Xavier, 2020. "Common ownership, market power, and innovation," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    8. Ruichang Lu & Qiaowei Shen & Tenghui Wang & Xiaojun Zhang, 2022. "Frenemies: Corporate Advertising Under Common Ownership," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(6), pages 4645-4669, June.
    9. Arjun Jayadev & J.W. Mason & Enno Schröder, 2018. "The Political Economy of Financialization in the United States, Europe and India," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 49(2), pages 353-374, March.
    10. Brito, Duarte & Ribeiro, Ricardo & Vasconcelos, Helder, 2018. "Quantifying the coordinated effects of partial horizontal acquisitions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 108-149.
    11. Li, Zhan, 2017. "Shareholder Activism Externalities," MPRA Paper 91635, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 21 Jan 2019.
    12. Azar, José & Schmalz, Martin & Tecu, Isabel, 2017. "Anti-Competitive Effects of Common Ownership," IESE Research Papers D/1169, IESE Business School.
    13. Gilje, Erik P. & Gormley, Todd A. & Levit, Doron, 2020. "Who's paying attention? Measuring common ownership and its impact on managerial incentives," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(1), pages 152-178.
    14. Olga Chiappinelli & Konstantinos G. Papadopoulos & Dimitrios Xefteris, 2023. "Common Ownership Unpacked," UB School of Economics Working Papers 2023/448, University of Barcelona School of Economics.
    15. José Azar & Xavier Vives, 2021. "General Equilibrium Oligopoly and Ownership Structure," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 89(3), pages 999-1048, May.
    16. Oz Shy & Rune Stenbacka, 2020. "Common ownership, institutional investors, and welfare," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 706-723, July.
    17. Brito, Duarte & Elhauge, Einer & Ribeiro, Ricardo & Vasconcelos, Helder, 2023. "Modelling the objective function of managers in the presence of overlapping shareholding," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Common Ownership; Theory of the Firm; MHHI; Oligopoly; Stakeholder Theory; Firm Boundaries;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • L10 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - General
    • L41 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Monopolization; Horizontal Anticompetitive Practices

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