CEF.UP – FIN Seminar

Thursday – January 23^rd, 2025 at 13:00 h | Room 305

“Co-investment Games Under Uncertainty“

Benoît Chevalier-Roignant – Emlyon Business School (France)

Abstract:

“There are many business situations in which investments by a supplier and a producer (“coinvestments”) are both necessary for either of them to grasp a business opportunity (e.g., emergence of hydrogen-powered vehicles). One of these two firms, typically the one facing a lower cost (“low-cost firm”), may be more willing to invest, but the cautionary attitude of the firm with a larger cost (“large-cost firm”) delays the coinvestment. We model supply-chain interactions in a tractable way to derive the firms’ net present values upon coinvestment and determine their Nash equilibrium investment (timing) strategies. These situations are likely to be affected by evolving market circumstances, in particular due to changes in the demand dynamics and endogenous decision (say, by the supplier) to conduct research and development (R\&D) to reduce production costs. We investigate these model extensions, which confirm the robustness of our key result.”

CEF.UP – FIN Seminar/Webinar

Thursday – April 24^th, 2025 at 1:00 p.m. | Room 305| Online

“Voting Rationales“

Silvina Rubio  – University of Bristol (England, United Kingdom)

Abstract:

“Why do institutional investors vote the way they vote? Using a novel dataset on institutional investors’ voting rationales, we provide direct evidence on the motivation for institutions’ votes in director elections. The main reasons for opposition are lack of independence and diversity. Concerns raised in rationales reflect firms’ governance weaknesses: companies with low board gender diversity receive more rationales on diversity, with similar results for independence, tenure, busyness, and CEO duality. Companies listen and change board composition in the direction stated in voting rationales. Results suggest many institutions make independent voting decisions with merits, and firms address investors’ concerns.”