Information flows among rivals and corporate investment

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bernard, Darren; Blackburne, Terrence; Thornock, Jacob
• 署名单位: University of London; London Business School; Oregon State University; Brigham Young University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-405X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2019.11.008
• 发表日期: 2020
• 页码: 760-779
• 关键词: information acquisition; Information flows; Rivalry; INVESTMENT; M&A

摘要

Using a novel pairwise measure of firms' acquisition of rivals' disclosures, we show that investment opportunities drive interfirm information flows. We find that these flows predict subsequent mergers and acquisitions as well as how and how much firms invest, relative to rivals. Moreover, firms' use of rivals' information often hinges on the similarities of their products. Our results suggest that rivals' public information, far from being unusable, helps facilitate investment and product decisions, including acquisitions and product differentiation strategies. The findings also support a learning mechanism that could partly underlie the emerging literature on peer investment effects. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.