IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/kitwps/283896.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Picking winners: Managerial ability and capital allocation

Author

Listed:
  • Benz, Andreas
  • Demerjian, Peter R.
  • Hoang, Daniel
  • Ruckes, Martin E.

Abstract

We examine how division managers' human capital affects internal capital allocation using a hand-collected data set of divisional managers at S&P 1,500 firms. Based on a novel measure of division-manager ability, we show that more able division managers receive substantially larger capital allocations. This effect is robust to controlling for the possibility of assortative matching and more pronounced for firms with better governance. We also find that the allocation of extra capital to higher-ability managers creates firm value. These findings suggest efficient fund transfers to high-productivity managers and provide support for a largely unexplored bright side of internal capital markets.

Suggested Citation

  • Benz, Andreas & Demerjian, Peter R. & Hoang, Daniel & Ruckes, Martin E., 2024. "Picking winners: Managerial ability and capital allocation," Working Paper Series in Economics 163, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Department of Economics and Management.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:kitwps:283896
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/283896/1/1881560155.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eisfeldt, Andrea L. & Kuhnen, Camelia M., 2013. "CEO turnover in a competitive assignment framework," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(2), pages 351-372.
    2. Bower, Joseph L, 1970. "Planning Within the Firm," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 60(2), pages 186-194, May.
    3. C. Edward Fee, 2003. "Raids, Rewards, and Reputations in the Market for Managerial Talent," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 16(4), pages 1315-1357.
    4. Timothy Erickson & Toni M. Whited, 2000. "Measurement Error and the Relationship between Investment and q," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(5), pages 1027-1057, October.
    5. Antonio Falato & Dan Li & Todd Milbourn, 2015. "Which Skills Matter in the Market for CEOs? Evidence from Pay for CEO Credentials," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(12), pages 2845-2869, December.
    6. Peter Demerjian & Baruch Lev & Sarah McVay, 2012. "Quantifying Managerial Ability: A New Measure and Validity Tests," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(7), pages 1229-1248, July.
    7. Stein, Jeremy C, 1997. "Internal Capital Markets and the Competition for Corporate Resources," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 111-133, March.
    8. Lamont, Owen, 1997. "Cash Flow and Investment: Evidence from Internal Capital Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 83-109, March.
    9. Chris R. McNeil & Thomas I. Smythe, 2009. "Division Manager Lobbying Power and the Allocation of Capital," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 44(1), pages 59-85, February.
    10. Markus Glaser & Florencio Lopez-De-Silanes & Zacharias Sautner, 2013. "Opening the Black Box: Internal Capital Markets and Managerial Power," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(4), pages 1577-1631, August.
    11. Robert Gertner & Eric Powers & David Scharfstein, 2002. "Learning about Internal Capital Markets from Corporate Spin‐offs," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(6), pages 2479-2506, December.
    12. Custódio, Cláudia & Ferreira, Miguel A. & Matos, Pedro, 2013. "Generalists versus specialists: Lifetime work experience and chief executive officer pay," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(2), pages 471-492.
    13. Ran Duchin & Thomas Gilbert & Jarrad Harford & Christopher Hrdlicka, 2017. "Precautionary Savings with Risky Assets: When Cash Is Not Cash," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 72(2), pages 793-852, April.
    14. Yihui Pan & Tracy Yue Wang & Michael S Weisbach, 2018. "How Management Risk Affects Corporate Debt," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 31(9), pages 3491-3531.
    15. Raghuram Rajan & Henri Servaes & Luigi Zingales, 2000. "The Cost of Diversity: The Diversification Discount and Inefficient Investment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(1), pages 35-80, February.
    16. Young Jun Cho, 2015. "Segment Disclosure Transparency and Internal Capital Market Efficiency: Evidence from SFAS No. 131," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(4), pages 669-723, September.
    17. David S. Scharfstein, 1998. "The Dark Side of Internal Capital Markets II: Evidence from Diversified Conglomerates," NBER Working Papers 6352, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. R. Glenn Hubbard, 1998. "Capital-Market Imperfections and Investment," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(1), pages 193-225, March.
    19. Ulrike Malmendier & Geoffrey Tate, 2015. "Behavioral CEOs: The Role of Managerial Overconfidence," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 29(4), pages 37-60, Fall.
    20. Ahn, Seoungpil & Denis, David J., 2004. "Internal capital markets and investment policy: evidence from corporate spinoffs," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(3), pages 489-516, March.
    21. Timothy Erickson & Toni M. Whited, 2006. "On the Accuracy of Different Measures of q," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 35(3), pages 5-33, September.
    22. Morten Bennedsen & Francisco Pérez‐González & Daniel Wolfenzon, 2020. "Do CEOs Matter? Evidence from Hospitalization Events," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 75(4), pages 1877-1911, August.
    23. Oguzhan Ozbas & David S. Scharfstein, 2010. "Evidence on the Dark Side of Internal Capital Markets," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(2), pages 581-599, February.
    24. Ilan Guedj & David Scharfstein, 2004. "Organizational Scope and Investment: Evidence from the Drug Development Strategies and Performance of Biopharmaceutical Firms," NBER Working Papers 10933, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    25. Mitchell A. Petersen, 2009. "Estimating Standard Errors in Finance Panel Data Sets: Comparing Approaches," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(1), pages 435-480, January.
    26. Marianne Bertrand & Antoinette Schoar, 2003. "Managing with Style: The Effect of Managers on Firm Policies," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(4), pages 1169-1208.
    27. Todd A. Gormley & David A. Matsa, 2014. "Common Errors: How to (and Not to) Control for Unobserved Heterogeneity," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 27(2), pages 617-661.
    28. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 1997. "Industry costs of equity," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 153-193, February.
    29. Philip G. Berger & Rebecca Hann, 2003. "The Impact of SFAS No. 131 on Information and Monitoring," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(2), pages 163-223, May.
    30. Blanchard, Olivier Jean & Lopez-de-Silanes, Florencio & Shleifer, Andrei, 1994. "What do firms do with cash windfalls?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 337-360, December.
    31. Oliver Boguth & Ran Duchin & Mikhail Simutin, 2022. "Dissecting Conglomerate Valuations," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 77(2), pages 1097-1131, April.
    32. Geoffrey Tate & Liu Yang, 2015. "The Bright Side of Corporate Diversification: Evidence from Internal Labor Markets," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(8), pages 2203-2249.
    33. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:2:p:479-506 is not listed on IDEAS
    34. Vojislav Maksimovic & Gordon M. Phillips, 2013. "Conglomerate Firms, Internal Capital Markets, and the Theory of the Firm," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 5(1), pages 225-244, November.
    35. Erickson, Timothy & Whited, Toni M., 2002. "Two-Step Gmm Estimation Of The Errors-In-Variables Model Using High-Order Moments," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 18(3), pages 776-799, June.
    36. Lucian A. Taylor, 2010. "Why Are CEOs Rarely Fired? Evidence from Structural Estimation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(6), pages 2051-2087, December.
    37. Gregor Matvos & Amit Seru, 2014. "Resource Allocation within Firms and Financial Market Dislocation: Evidence from Diversified Conglomerates," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 27(4), pages 1143-1189.
    38. Mueller, Holger & Giroud, Xavier, 2015. "Capital and Labor Reallocation within Firms," CEPR Discussion Papers 10360, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    39. Jose Manuel Campa & Simi Kedia, 2002. "Explaining the Diversification Discount," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(4), pages 1731-1762, August.
    40. David Hyland & J David Diltz, 2002. "Why Firms Diversify: An Empirical Examination," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 31(1), Spring.
    41. R. D. Banker & A. Charnes & W. W. Cooper, 1984. "Some Models for Estimating Technical and Scale Inefficiencies in Data Envelopment Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(9), pages 1078-1092, September.
    42. Ran Duchin & Denis Sosyura, 2013. "Divisional Managers and Internal Capital Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(2), pages 387-429, April.
    43. George Baker & Michael Gibbs & Bengt Holmstrom, 1994. "The Internal Economics of the Firm: Evidence from Personnel Data," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(4), pages 881-919.
    44. Xavier Giroud & Holger M. Mueller, 2015. "Capital and Labor Reallocation within Firms," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(4), pages 1767-1804, August.
    45. Lev, Baruch & Sougiannis, Theodore, 1996. "The capitalization, amortization, and value-relevance of R&D," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 107-138, February.
    46. Toni M. Whited, 2001. "Is It Inefficient Investment that Causes the Diversification Discount?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(5), pages 1667-1691, October.
    47. Fama, Eugene F & MacBeth, James D, 1973. "Risk, Return, and Equilibrium: Empirical Tests," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(3), pages 607-636, May-June.
    48. Gönül Çolak & Toni M. Whited, 2007. "Spin-offs, Divestitures, and Conglomerate Investment," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 20(3), pages 557-595.
    49. Gerard Hoberg & Gordon Phillips, 2016. "Text-Based Network Industries and Endogenous Product Differentiation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 124(5), pages 1423-1465.
    50. Kimberly J. Cornaggia & Gopal V. Krishnan & Changjiang Wang, 2017. "Managerial Ability and Credit Ratings," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 34(4), pages 2094-2122, December.
    51. Fee, C. Edward & Hadlock, Charles J., 2004. "Management turnover across the corporate hierarchy," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 3-38, February.
    52. Charnes, A. & Cooper, W. W. & Rhodes, E., 1978. "Measuring the efficiency of decision making units," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 2(6), pages 429-444, November.
    53. Chevalier Judith, 2004. "What Do We Know About Cross-subsidization? Evidence from Merging Firms," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 4(1), pages 1-29, April.
    54. Daniel Hoang & Martin Ruckes, 2015. "Informed Headquarters and Socialistic Internal Capital Markets," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 19(3), pages 1105-1141.
    55. Graham, John R. & Harvey, Campbell R. & Puri, Manju, 2015. "Capital allocation and delegation of decision-making authority within firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(3), pages 449-470.
    56. Matsusaka, John G, 2001. "Corporate Diversification, Value Maximization, and Organizational Capabilities," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 74(3), pages 409-431, July.
    57. John R. Graham & Michael L. Lemmon & Jack G. Wolf, 2002. "Does Corporate Diversification Destroy Value?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(2), pages 695-720, April.
    58. Naveen Khanna & Sheri Tice, 2001. "The Bright Side of Internal Capital Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(4), pages 1489-1528, August.
    59. Rajiv D. Banker & Han-Up Park, 2021. "Three-Stage Approach to Analyze Managerial Ability," Data Envelopment Analysis Journal, now publishers, vol. 5(1), pages 27-54, June.
    60. Kale, Jayant R. & Loon, Yee Cheng, 2011. "Product market power and stock market liquidity," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 376-410, May.
    61. Venkat Kuppuswamy & Belén Villalonga, 2016. "Does Diversification Create Value in the Presence of External Financing Constraints? Evidence from the 2007–2009 Financial Crisis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(4), pages 905-923, April.
    62. Li, Kai & Qiu, Buhui & Shen, Rui, 2018. "Organization Capital and Mergers and Acquisitions," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 53(4), pages 1871-1909, August.
    63. Paul J. Irvine & Jeffrey Pontiff, 2009. "Idiosyncratic Return Volatility, Cash Flows, and Product Market Competition," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(3), pages 1149-1177, March.
    64. Paul J. Irvine & Jeffrey Pontiff, 2009. "Idiosyncratic Return Volatility, Cash Flows, and Product Market Competition," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(3), pages 1149-1177.
    65. Ran Duchin & Amir Goldberg & Denis Sosyura, 2017. "Spillovers Inside Conglomerates: Incentives and Capital," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(5), pages 1696-1743.
    66. Julie Wulf, 2007. "Authority, Risk, And Performance Incentives: Evidence From Division Manager Positions Inside Firms," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(1), pages 169-196, March.
    67. McNeil, Chris & Niehaus, Greg & Powers, Eric, 2004. "Management turnover in subsidiaries of conglomerates versus stand-alone firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 63-96, April.
    68. Weili GE & Dawn Matsumoto & Jenny Li Zhang, 2011. "Do CFOs Have Style? An Empirical Investigation of the Effect of Individual CFOs on Accounting Practices," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(4), pages 1141-1179, December.
    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. Stefan Erdorf & Thomas Hartmann-Wendels & Nicolas Heinrichs & Michael Matz, 2013. "Corporate diversification and firm value: a survey of recent literature," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 27(2), pages 187-215, June.
    2. Kim, Sehoon, 2020. "Disappearing Discounts: Hedge Fund Activism in Conglomerates," MPRA Paper 100876, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Patrick Bielstein & Mario Fischer & Christoph Kaserer, 2018. "The cost of capital effect of M&A transactions: Disentangling coinsurance from the diversification discount," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 24(4), pages 650-679, September.
    4. Giroud, Xavier & Dai, Min & Jiang, Wei & Wang, Neng, 2020. "A q Theory of Internal Capital Markets," CEPR Discussion Papers 15341, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Siraj, Ibrahim & Hassan, M. Kabir & Maroney, Neal, 2020. "Product demand sensitivity and the corporate diversification discount," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    6. I-Ju Chen, 2016. "Corporate Governance and the Efficiency of Internal Capital Markets," Review of Pacific Basin Financial Markets and Policies (RPBFMP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 19(02), pages 1-50, June.
    7. Bai, Min & Fu, Yumei & Sun, Mingwei, 2023. "Corporate diversification and labor investment efficiency: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    8. Ranjan D’Mello & Xinghua Gao & Yonghong Jia, 2017. "Internal control and internal capital allocation: evidence from internal capital markets of multi-segment firms," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 251-287, March.
    9. Iskenderoglu, Cansu, 2021. "Managerial discretion and efficiency of internal capital markets," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    10. Cline, Brandon N. & Garner, Jacqueline L. & Yore, Adam S., 2014. "Exploitation of the internal capital market and the avoidance of outside monitoring," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 234-250.
    11. Vitkova, Valeriya & Tian, Siyang & Sudarsanam, Sudi, 2023. "Allocative efficiency of internal capital markets: Evidence from equity carve-outs by diversified firms," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    12. John (Jianqiu) Bai, 2021. "Organizational Form and Trade Liberalization: Plant-Level Evidence," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(12), pages 7755-7784, December.
    13. Stefan Erdorf & Thomas Hartmann-Wendels & Nicolas Heinrichs & Michael Matz, 2012. "Corporate Diversification and Firm Value: A Survey of Recent Literature," Cologne Graduate School Working Paper Series 03-01, Cologne Graduate School in Management, Economics and Social Sciences.
    14. Oliver Boguth & Ran Duchin & Mikhail Simutin, 2022. "Dissecting Conglomerate Valuations," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 77(2), pages 1097-1131, April.
    15. Gatzer, Sebastian & Hoang, Daniel & Ruckes, Martin, 2015. "Internal Capital Markets and Diversified Firms: Theory and Practice," EconStor Preprints 169432, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    16. Hoang, Daniel & Gatzer, Sebastian & Ruckes, Martin E., 2018. "The economics of capital allocation in firms: Evidence from internal capital markets," Working Paper Series in Economics 115, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Department of Economics and Management.
    17. Colak, Gonul & Liljeblom, Eva, 2022. "Easy cleanups or forbearing improvements: The effect of CEO tenure on successor’s performance," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    18. Nilakshi Borah & Liu Pan & Jung Chul Park & Nan Shao, 2018. "Does corporate diversification reduce value in high technology firms?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 683-718, October.
    19. USHIJIMA Tatsuo, 2021. "The Liability of Aging in Internal Capital Markets," Discussion papers 21065, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    20. Vojislav Maksimovic & Gordon Phillips, 2002. "Do Conglomerate Firms Allocate Resources Inefficiently Across Industries? Theory and Evidence," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(2), pages 721-767, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Managerial Ability; Managerial Efficiency; Human Capital; Capital Budgeting; Investment; Internal Capital Markets;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G31 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Capital Budgeting; Fixed Investment and Inventory Studies
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:zbw:kitwps:283896. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fwkitde.html .

    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.