Publications

Purpose – This paper aims to deal with the issue of shareholder activism of private equity investors in public companies. The study identifies characteristics of target firms and investors related to the likelihood of private equity activism. The research also examines whether shareholder activism strategy of private equity investors is associated with the better performance in future and value creation of target firms.

 Design/methodology/approach – The paper applies econometric modeling to hand-collected data on private equity investments in listed companies, in the form of private investment in public equity and openmarket share purchases, from eight Continental Europe’s countries for the period 2005–2014.

 Findings – The findings indicate that the probability of shareholder activism is higher if the target firm’s industry corresponds to the private equity investor’s industry specialization, if the private equity firm is older, if the target is larger and the average ownership share purchased by the investor is higher. Conversely, the probability of shareholder activism is lower where a private equity firm invests in the target for the first time. A target firm with an activist investor has poorer operational performance results one year following the investment compared to a target firm with a passive private equity investor.

Research limitations/implications – Results from the analysis of transactions in Continental Europe countries with French and German legal origin may be not generalizable to other markets with the different legal tradition and institutional environment.

Originality/value – This research provides new empirical evidence on private equity activism in listed companies of Continental Europe. By distinguishing between active and passive investments, testing rarely considered characteristics to provide valuable insights and analyzing the effect of activism on the target firm’s performance, the study contributes variously to the still-limited body of literature on private equity activism in public companies with a governance structure based on concentrated ownership. The findings emphasize the relationship between shareholder activism and both target and investor’s characteristics from perspective of mitigating agency problem and value creation in target firms. By simultaneously investigating investments in public companies from several European markets, the study complements empirical evidence mostly obtained from studies of a single national market.

Keywords Private equity, Shareholder activism, PIPE, Corporate governance, Firm performance

The article is devoted to the problem of choosing an insurance service by buyers of luxury goods segment in order to identify the main behavioral models and factors affecting the development of both the market of luxury goods segment and the insurance market.

During the study of the scientific literature, the key factors that influence the behavior of consumers in two markets were identified: the luxury market and the insurance services market. 

As a factual material, statistics on China, the United States and Japan as the largest markets for luxury goods were used. So, an analysis of the behavior of buyers in the luxury goods market was carried out, based on current economic indicators, and the identification of specific features of different consumer groups, as well as exceptions and possible contradictions. At this stage of the work, the study of the impact of the 2020 crisis on the behavior of buyers was of particular interest.

During the regression analysis of the relationship between the activity of buyers of luxury goods, the volume of insurance premiums and the customer confidence index, the influence of the latter on the luxury goods insurance market was shown.

The article discusses the issue of climate changes and corporate responsibility. Corporate sustainable development imposes attention to environmental problems, that makes companies to switch to environmentally friendly technologies, reducing carbon emission, cutting natural sources’ deployment. It was researched that decarbonization of corporations may give not only social contribution, but also financial benefits. The most vulnerable for the “green economy demand” companies of energy industry were put to the sample and the economic effect of decarbonization was computed. The calculation allows to continue discussion about sustainable development of corporations alongside their environmental responsibility.

At present, many manufacturing companies face with the problem of setting their production plans taking into account existing liming factors that can be of both internal and external nature. This task is known as determining the product mix – the scope and volumes of products that should be manufactured and sold. Solution of this task is a decision making process: it is necessary to select an optimal (regarding one or several criteria) combination of products and their production volumes. The paper focuses on two approaches dealing with the product mix task. One of the approaches is based on management accounting calculations: the product mix is selected to maximize profitability, by ranking the products according to their contribution-earning ability per unit of the limiting factor. Certain limitations of the management accounting approach are the problems with forecasted assumptions, using only financial considerations, ignoring the degree of preference of one product in comparison with another, as well as missing information about possible states of the external environment. Another approach relies on multi-criteria decision making methods and expert estimates. This approach allows decision makers to take into account non-financial factors, including qualitative information, as well as to consider the power of distinction between products and environmental aspects. In the paper it is argued that combination of the two approaches may be used within common task of determining the product mix. The combined approach supported by appropriate information systems makes the decision making process more efficient and justifiable.

The experience of developed countries (such as the USA, France, Germany, and the Netherlands) has proved the effectiveness of cooperation in a certain territory of scientific and educational organizations and production enterprises in order to achieve the synergistic effect of such integration as a cluster. Innovational and industrial clusters have become an effective tool for integrating national producers into the global market for high-tech products, which generally affects both the level of development of the cluster member organizations and the base region and the whole country. The Russian Federation, adopting the experience of developed countries, when conducting a cluster policy, determined the mechanisms of state support for projects of industrial clusters, and therefore the issues of assessing the effectiveness of financing industry of industrial clusters are relevant. The article is devoted to solving an urgent problem—the development of a digital monitoring system for the effectiveness of financing industrial clusters of the Russian Federation. As part of the study, the goal was set to develop a system of digital remote monitoring of industrial clusters of the Russian Federation, which would meet the basic needs for financial control, as well as the specifics of the development of domestic cluster policy. The proposed system of digital remote monitoring of the effectiveness of the development of industrial clusters in the Russian Federation can be used in the current and subsequent monitoring of the financing of cluster programs, to prepare decisions on the allocation of budgetary funds by state and municipal authorities and will allow potential investors to determine the most promising investment tools. The study used methods of bibliographic and logical analysis, synthesis and a systematic approach, mathematical methods of processing statistical data.

 The HSE Graduate School of Business continues the practice of involving professors from different depart- ments in the development of compact cases. The second group of business management faculty members  has already been trained in designing and writing educational compact cases. The ten cases that make up  this collection consider challenging situations in management through the prism of di"erent subject areas of  knowledge. The collection is intended for professors, students, and business schools’ participants, as well as  managers interested in understanding both the specifics of modern Russian business and the management  mechanisms of transnational companies operating in the Russian market.

It was analyzed the influence of stock exchanges on stock quotes of the automotive, energy and telecommunication companies. It was obtained comparative assessment of the profitability, risk and stability indicator of shares placed on different stock exchanges.

The HSE Graduate School of Business continues the practice of involving teachers from  different departments in the development of educational cases. The second group of scientific  and pedagogical workers has already been trained in writing educational compact cases. The  ten study cases that make up this collection consider challenging situations in management  through the prism of different subject areas of science. The collection is intended for  professors, students and business schools participants, as well as managers interested in  understanding both the specifics of modern Russian business and the management  mechanisms of transnational companies operating in the Russian market.

Introduction. Mitigation of risks concerning the project budget overrun becomes one of the key problematic areas of Russian companies in case of increasing competition on both the domestic and foreign markets, significant expansion of the investment program, including the large strategic investment projects, and lack and expensiveness of financial sources. The research is aimed at defining the approach that allows to develop the key risk indicators (KRI) system to decrease costs overruns of construction projects.

Materials and methods. Conducted the analysis of approaches, tools and methods used for development the KRI system, provided the classification of project risks performed using the Ishikawa diagram, proposed the methodical approach consisting of tools and methods of risk theory (risk, KRI identification and assessment) and correlation regression analysis.

Results. Authors presented core steps of the KRI system development, proposed the methodical approach to development the KRI system differentiated by significance of the project.

Conclusions. For more significant projects of the investment program the authors propose to develop KRI system considering the peculiarities of them and for the other projects it is suggested to use the basic set of tools and methods that require minimal human and time resources. Along with the development of the methodical approach authors provide a sample of KRI structured by risk factors.

Designed to train specialists in the field of financial management in general and financial modeling in particular. It contains 9 chapters that reveal in depth the key theoretical aspects of financial modeling using information technology. Each topic is accompanied by practical examples of completing tasks, solving cases, performing calculations using Excel tools. In order to consolidate the studied material for each chapter, readers are offered tasks for training. The applied comprehensive approach to the study of financial modeling will contribute to the training of highly qualified specialists with a wide range of theoretical knowledge and practical skills. Corresponds to the latest generation of the Federal State Educational Standard. For master's degree students studying in the direction of "Economics".