Shared Flashcard Set

Details

BPUB 203
Midterm 1
114
Business
Undergraduate 4
10/25/2009

Additional Business Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
4 I's
Definition
  • Issues
    • Issues emerge
    • Can analyze sources of emergence
  • Interests (Private Sector, NGO’s)
    • Preferences are formed
    • Organized and unorganized groups have stakes
  • Information
    • Is transmitted by interests and media to
  • Institutions (Public Sector) resolve conflicts
    •  Legislatures
    • Eforcement agencies (DOJ, FTC, Courts)
    • Rulemaking agencies (FCC, SEC)
Term
Issue Life Cycle
Definition

- Impact over time

1. Issue Identification

2. Interest Group Formation

3. Legislation

4. Administration Enforcement

 

Term
Policy Window
Definition

- Impetus for public sector action over time

1. Leading Activity

- Experiments

2. Public Need is Identified

- Focusing Event - opening of window

3. Public concensus is reached

- Offensive (find solution)/ Defensive (delay) strategy

4. Trailing Activity

- Closing of Window

- Problem addressed/failed

- Change in interest

Term

Sources of Nonmarket Change

Definition

1. Scientic discoveries and technological advances

2. New understandings

3. Activist Group Activity

4. Institutional Change

5. Moral Concerns/Ideology

Term

Theory of Media Coverage & Treatment

Definition

Societal Significance vs Audience Interest

- Low to (medium) to high

1. Interpretation & advocacy (moderate)

2. Position taking & Advocacy (extensive)

3. Factual (Low)

4. Factual & Interpretation (moderate)

Term
Integrated Stategy Framework
Definition

Market + Moral + Nonmarket = Integrated Stategy

1. Market

- market structure, competitors, branding, market positioning

2. Nonmarket

- 4 I's, nonmarket positioning

3. Moral

- Social responsibility, ethics

Term
Granted Rights
Definition

- established by moral consensus or by clear govt legislation

 

Ex: childrean should not be exposed to porn

Term
Claimed Rights
Definition

- moral standing is often present but govt hasn't spoken on the issue or moral consensus hasn't been reached

 

Ex: no advertising of children's food on Saturday morning TV

Term
Moral Standing
Definition

- rights may be with or without moral justification

 

EX: free school bus service for children

Term
Tradeoff in the Issue Life Cycle
Definition

As legislation is enforced

- Managerial control decreases

- Impact on managers increase

 

Term
Types of News Treatments
Definition

Transmittal mode

- straight-forward presentation of facts, description of events

- interpretation of facts and events

 

Advocacy Mode

- Exploration of social significance

- Advocacy of a course of action

Term
Media Interest Theory
Definition

Demand

- audience interest generates demand for media coverage

 

Supply

- Societal significance augments media coverage for dramatic events

 

Term
5-Stage Framework for Nonmarket Strategy
Definition

Stage 1: Generate Alternatives

Stage 2: Screen ethical principles

- eliminate alternatives contrary to law, business policy, widespread ethics

Stage 3: Analysis

- 4 I's

Stage 4: Choice

- Strategy formulation

Stage 5: Implementation

Term

Susceptibility to Public Protests

(Products)

Definition

1. Consumer products
2. Products with low switching costs
3. A brand name that can be damaged
4. Produce negative externalities

Term

Susceptibility to Public Protests

(Firm Organization)

Definition

1. Multinational/global operations
- Activists can choose jurisdiction for action
2. Decentralized organization
- One division may take actions without considering ramifications for other divisions
3. Highly visible firm

Term
Capture Theory
Definition

- when state regulatory agencies created to act in the public interest favor the act in the commercial interest of the industry it regulates

- a form of market failure

- logical because they have the greatest financial stake

Term
Rent-Seeking Theory
Definition

- when a narrow, special interests group that is well organized pushes for regulatory change that is self-benefitting

EX: tariff protection, copyright, tax burdens

 

- Regulation is supplied in response to demand

- Political support in exchange for favorable legislation

- General public interest is not as well served

Term
Distributive Politics Spreadsheet
Definition

- General issue?

- Who are the supporters/opponents?

- Demand side - Benefits from supporting/opposing

- Substitutes? Groups magnitude?

-Supply Side - Ability to generate political action?

- Group Magnitude? Political Resources? Cost of Organizing?

Prediction? --> What's actors' expected influence

Term
Wilson-Lowi Matrix
Definition

- Distribution of benefits/costs of political action

 

- Interest Group Politics (CB, CC) - public believe to be unaffected

- Client Politics (CB, WDC) - generates in private sector

- Entreprenuerial Politics (WDB, CC) - generates in public sector

- Majoritarian Politics (WDB, WDC) - lot of public discussion

Term
Market Failures
Definition

1. Natural Monopoly

2. Externality

3. Public Goods

4. Asymmetric Information

5. Moral Hazard

Term
Perfect Market
Definition

- if you are willing to pay (marginal) cost of providing a good or service, you should be able to obtain it

Term
Collective Action Problem
Definition

- Collective action is rational if its achieved... increases aggregate benefit

- Free riders transfer the costs to others

 

- Labor unions? gain the benefit of a union without doing anything?

- unions charge a few to cover costs of nonmarket actions 

Term
Median Voter Theorem
Definition

the outcome of a vote is the median if


- legislative process is open such that alternatives can be considered

- legistlators are lined up on a one-dimensional policy outcome space

Term
Principles of Effective Lobbying
Definition

Multi-level lobbying

- Company + Govt

- CEO --> Senator

- Managers give political/technical info

- Govt staff listen

 

Term
TOCIAS
Definition

1. Targeting

2. Objectives

3. Coalitions

4. Information/Arguments

5. Substitutes

Term
European Coal and Steel Community
Definition

1951

- France and Germany put coal mining and steel making capacities in one common pool governed by one authority independent of each nation

Term
Treaty of Rome
Definition

- Form customs union

- Free Trade internally

- Common external tariffs

 

Term
Single Europe Act
Definition

- 1987

- Create a common market by 1993

Term
Maastricht Treaty
Definition

- Created the European Central Bank (1998)

- Euro 2002

Term
Lisbon Reform Treaty
Definition

- current treaty to change the inner workings of the EU

- not all of the countries have ratified the treaty

Term
Regulatory features of the EU
Definition

- Harmonization

- development of common standards (health, auto safety, etc.)

- Fiscal harmonization (tax policy, govt spending, subsidies)

 

Mutual Recognition

- professional... aka doctors


Term
Contestability Theory
Definition

- when there are no barriers to entry there is still the threat of entry of others

- companies act competitively to keep them out

Term
Cosean Theorem
Definition

- involves negotiating solutions to internalize externalities

- w/ trans. cost = parties can bargain to socially efficient outcome regardless which party is assigned entitlement

- w/o cost = maybe infeasible with many parties or high trans. cost

- govt sets entitlement and regulatory standards

 

Term
Command and Control Regulation
Definition

- Bans (lead in paint)

- Mandatory products (airbags)

- Mandatory performance standards

Term
Market-based Incentive Approaches
Definition

- Pigouvian taxes on externalities

- Permits to limit pollution


(companies all get permits)

(companies have different costs of abatement)

(meet allocation by buy/sell permits)

Term
Mandatory Disclosure Provisions
Definition

- firms must publicly report their emissions to air, water, and land

- info in census data

Term
Risk Bias of Public
Definition

- plots the what people think mortality rates are against their actual rates

- Certain ones are overestimated/underestimated

Term
Agency Decision Risk
Definition

TT, TF, FT, FF

- False positive - Type I

- False Negative - Type II

Term
Regulation of Product Safety
Definition

- agency has a role in setting standards and requiring warnings

- agency has a role in correcting violations (recall etc)

- Precautionary principle (better safe than sorry)

Term
Calabresi-Melamed Principles
Definition

Assignment of entitlements

Costs of ensuring safety should be assigned to the party that

a.) can achieve social efficiency at the least cost

b.) is int he best position to assess social costs and benefits

c.) can at the lowest cost induce the other party to maximize social welfare


less costly for producers to ensure safety than customers

Term
Class Action/Reforms
Definition

- Class action is a form of multiparty litigation in which one or
more persons sue on behalf of themselves and all others
who have suffered similar harm from essentially the same
wrong.

Class action reform moves venue to Federal level, not state.

Term
Copyright
Definition

- meant works of original expression committed to a media: art, books, music

- originality

- term of copyright = fixed but lengthy

- owner can charge fee for use

 

Term
Unsustainability: Malthus Theory
Definition
[image]
Term
Sustainability
Definition
[image]
Term
Sustainable Development
Definition

Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the welfare of future generations

 

I=P x A/T

 

I=environmental impact is sustainable if growth in P and A is balanced by growth in T

P=Population (Assumed to Grow)

A= Affluence or average per capita consumption

T=Technological Innovations

Term
Population Policies
Definition

- Contraception

- Education of Women

- Single Birth (China)

- Cultural and Religious Barriers

 

(graph showing that as the literacy rate among women goes up, the number of births per woman goes down)

Term
Avoiding Malthusian Disaster
Definition

Prehistoric: Domesticated animals replace hunting and gathering

17th - 19th centuries: crop rotation, mechanical technology, opening of new lands

20th century: chemical fetilizers, pesticides, better irrigation, genetic modification of crops

Term
Malthusian Concerns
Definition

Malthusian Concerns ( population ever-growing, food lagging)

Increasing air and water pollution

Exhausting of natural resources

Loss of biodiversity

Term
EROEI(Energy Returned on Energy Invested)
Definition

It takes energy to

-Acquire energy

-transport energy

-store energy

-use energy

alternative energy has lower EROEI

 

(Net Energy + Energy Invested) / Energy Invested = EROEI

Term
Bribery
Definition
Bribery: Payment to an individual in a governmental organization intended to influence that persons exercise of his reponsibility
Term
Principal Agent Model of Corruption
Definition

Principal: top level of government /citizens

 

Agent: Official representing government

 

-Principal wants the agents behavior to reflect the interests of the public/government. Agent wants to minimize effort and maximize personal gian

-A bribe sacrifices the interests of the principal for the interest of the agent

Term

Shleifer and Vishny (1993):

 

Corruption

Definition

Government institutions & structure of political process are important determinants in teh level of corruption

 

Corruption can vary dramatically in the amount of inefficiency it introduces

 

illegality and need for secrecy make corruption more distortionary than taxation

Term
Corruption
Definition
sale by government official of government property or right to do business for personal gain
Term
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (1977)
Definition

Outlaws the payment of bribes by american firms to

-foreign officials

 

motivated by the 1975 Lockheed scandal

-payment to private businesses not prohibited

- facilitating payment not prohibited

- extends to nay international company that has business in US

Term
OECD Convention on Bribery (1999)
Definition

- It is a crime for enterprises to directly 

or indirectly offer, promise, give, or 

demand a bribe or other undue 

advantage to obtain or retain business, 

anywhere

 

-Facilitating payments are acceptable (small payments to expedite routine business needs)

Term
Cultural Relativism v. Imperialism
Definition

Relativism: Local Traditions and context

- Appropriate firm behavior in a country or Culture is determined by its laws and customs

 

Cultural Imperialism: Moral absolutes

- Firm maintains the standards of its home country and judges others by those standards

Term

Human Rights

UN Code

Definition

UN Code (1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

 

- Freedom from torture

- No use of forced child labor

- right to minimal education and to an adequate standard of living

- right to vote and to free expression

Term
Donaldson's Ethical Principles
Definition

(seek balance b/w Imperialism and Relativism)

 

- respected for universal human values which determine absolute moral threshold for all business activities

- respect for local traditions

- belief that context matters when deciding what is right and wrong

Term
Corporate Codes of Conduct
Definition

Valuable way to get corporations to buy into 

new norms of behavior without the need for 

government intervention

Term
Social Accountability 8000 Code
Definition

- specific commitments on workers rights

- independent auditor comes in, and assesses whether a company is in full compliance

- company uses certification of compliance as a marketing tool. (e.g. in commercials and packaging)

Term
UN Global Compact
Definition

20 Corporations and 12 Unions and 

watchdog groups agree to adhere to 

nine widely accepted UN principles on 

human rights, labor standards, and the 

environment (not a legal code)

 

Signatories self-report annually on 

progress in implementing these 

principles

 

Term
Environmental and Social Impact Assesments
Definition

Studies of immediate consequences of a business

 

Can be used to prevent tension between companies and communities

Term
Functions of the Board
Definition
Succession: Select, regularly evaluate and, if necessary, replace the CEO

Strategic Planning: Review and, where appropriate, approve the major strategies and financial and
other objectives, and plans of the corporation; Advise management on significant issues facing the corporation

Audit: Oversee processes for evaluating the adequacy of internal controls, risk
management, financial reporting and compliance

Nominating: Select independent directors and appoint committee members

Compensation: Determine management compensation
Term
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
Definition
Strengthen Board Independence

Strengthen Audit Committee (Financial expert)

Accounting (No consulting, New Oversight board)

Expand insider accountability (Certification, Criminal Penalties)
Term
Pay for Performance via Stock Options
Definition
Theory - Align managers’ and shareholders’ interest in maximizing the
market value of the firm

Practice – Pay with stock options (FASB accounting treatment: company need not record an associated expense on its income statement, Tax treatment: when employees exercise option, the company
gets a tax deduction for the gain the employees realize)

Reform (Expensing required in mid-2005)
Term
Compensation Disclosure 2006
Definition
Increased narrative disclosure on the details of compensation arrangement, including a new Compensation Discussion and Analysis (CD&A)

New, single number disclosing annual “total annual compensation”

Inclusion of the Principal Financial Officer (PFO) as a named executive officer

Disclosure of HR Committee processes in
determining compensation
Term
SEC Regulation
Definition
Primary mission – protect investors and
maintain integrity of securities markets

Governing concept – Collects
information from public companies

SEC – oversees stock exchanges broker
exchanges, broker dealers, investment advisors, mutual funds, governance

Enforcement – 400-500 civil
enforcement actions each year – most
cases settled with consent decrees
Term
Securities Act of 1933
Definition
Disclosure/Registration for new issues

Exceptions for private placements, hedge funds

Liability for misstatements or omissions
Term
Securities Act of 1934
Definition
Establish Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

Quarterly, Annual disclosure

Register all classes of traded securities

Liability for false statements (Rule 10b-5)

Regulates insiders’ transactions

Creates self-regulatory system for fraud (NASD, Stock Exchanges on front line)
Term
Market Integrity v. Market Efficiency
Definition
Social Policy (Market Integrity)
Securities market should be based on a level playing field that does not favor those with access to confidential information, Concern that securities market can become a rigged poker game


Economic Policy (Market Efficiency)
Need steady flow of accurate information regarding the value of listed companies
Prices that better reflect information reduce risk and improve performance
Term
Classes of Insiders
Definition
Corporate Insiders: Officers, directors, and employees may
not trade on or “tip” insider information

Quasi-Insiders: Bankers, accountants, and consultants have fiduciary responsibility to keep inside information confidential

Outsider-Tippees: Friends and family are liable for illegal trading when information source is insider or quasi-insider who expects to benefit from providing insider information

Outsider-Professionals: No trade on insider information as a consequence of employment, e.g., investment analysts,
newspaper columnists
Term
MNPI Trading Liability
Definition
Requires:
Purchase or sale of a security

While trader is in possession of material, nonpublic information (MNPI)

Breach of fiduciary duty by trader
or tipper

Trader has intention of wrongdoing
(called “scienter”)

Tender offers: Absolutely no trading or
tipping if you know about a “tender offer”
Term
Net Capital Rule of 2004
Definition
Big investment banks wanted exemption for their brokerage units from regulation that limited debt they could take on

Rule change would unshackle billions held in reserve as a cushion against losses, enabling investments in fast-growing but opaque world of mortgage-backed securities and credit
derivatives

Leverage ratios (how much firm was borrowing compared to its
total assets) rose sharply after rule change, e.g. to 33 to 1 for
Bear Stearns.

SEC decision reflected belief in efficient markets over “irrational exuberance."
Term
Features of 2008 Financial Rescue
Definition
Federal reserve intervention in March 2008 (Offers loans, accepting mortgage-backed securities as collateral ($400B), Guarantees up to $29B of Bear Stearn’s assets as part of its sale to JP Morgan Chase)

Congress passes Housing Relief Act in July 2008

The Treasury puts Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into conservatorship
in September 2008 and pledges up to $200B to back their assets.

Lehman Brothers fails, AIG supported, money market fund guarantees, credit freeze in September 2008.

$700B bank bailout (TARP) passed Congress in in October 2008.

Treasury provides capital directly to major commercial banks through equity ownership.
Term
TARP Compensation Restrictions
Definition
Emergency Economic Stabilization Act 10/1/2008

Companies must have:
Limits on compensation that exclude incentives for senior executive officers of a financial institution to take unnecessary and excessive risk
that threaten the value of a financial institution
A provision to claw-back bonus paid to a senior officer based on financial statements that are later proven to be materially false
A prohibition on the financial institution making any golden parachute
payments

Payback of TARP Funds 6/2009:
Repayments of $68 billion by JPMorgan, Goldman and Morgan Stanley, enables these banks to avoid compensation restrictions
Pay czar for Citibank, Bank of America, AIG still under TARP
Term
Obama Reform 2009
Definition
Supervision of “big” firms will be consolidated under Federal
Reserve - More capital and liquidity required

Council of regulators will advise Fed, scan for emerging risks

More disclosure and retention re securitization

Fix incentives on fees (spread over time and reduce if loans blow up)

Creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) - Rule writing and enforcement powers over mortgages and credit cards.
Term
Comparative Advantage
Definition
Ex: Car and Computer Costs (trade in dissimilar goods in dissimilar countries)

If a car is worth x computers in Country 1 and y computers in Country 2, and x < y, Country 1 has a comparative advantage in cars.
Term
Increasing Returns and Geography
Definition
(trade of similar goods between similar countries)

Increasing returns provide incentives to
concentrate production of only one product in a single location. (52% of Germany’s exports to France are things France also produces and exports to Germany, e.g. Germans import
Renaults and the French import Volkswagens)

Trinity of reasons for industry localization: knowledge spillovers, labor market pool and specialized suppliers. (Deep trouble of Big Three automakers in US, and the less
affected foreign-owned operations may in part reflect the diminished advantages of being co-located with other producers in your industry)
Term
Functions of WTO
Definition
Promote free and fair trade
-Most favored nation requirement,
trade policies are to be
nondiscriminatory

National treatment - Domestic and foreign goods are to be treated the same

Dispute settlement body - Process completed within 1 year, sanctions if failure to comply, any appeal within 3 months
Term
Trade Protection
Definition
Policy of protecting domestic industries against foreign competition by means of tariffs, subsidies, import quotas, or other handicaps placed on imports.

Those industries who have comparative advantage will want trade protection. If free trade, labor will move to where the comparative advantage lies.
Term
Shareholder Focus (Shareholder Capitalism) (Friedman)
Definition
Corporations are owned by
shareholders

Shareholders are the principals
and managers decisions (should)
reflect the shareholders interests

Managers have a duty to shareholders

A firm may benefit others if doing so increases shareholder value

Profit maximization “subject to
law and ethical custom”
Term
Business Roundtable (Stakeholder Focus)
Definition
Corporations are legal entities
whose existence depends on societal support

Managers are the principals and they make decisions about tradeoffs between competing interests

Managers have a duty to society

Firms make trade-offs among
competing interests, shareholders
are one of those interests

Weighing the impact of decisions and balancing different constituent interests
Term
Stakeholders
Definition
Employees, suppliers, financiers, customers, communities, societies at large, shareholders
Term
OEDC Governance Guidelines
Definition
Fair treatment of all shareholders, including minority and foreign shareholders

Improved transparency of financials

Accountability of board to company and the shareholders

Responsibility to stakeholders
Term
Porter & Kramer: Corporate Social Responsibility Focus
Definition
Prioritizing Social Issues

Generic Social Issues - not affected by company operations and won't affect long-term competitiveness

Value Chain Social Impacts - affected by company's activities in ordinary course of business

Social Dimensions of Competitive Context - external environment affects underlying drivers of competitiveness where company operates

Companies can benefit by linking CSR to very specific elements of competitive advantage
Term
Public/Activist Responsibility Issues
Definition
-Sustainable development
-Biotechnology
-Human rights/child labor
-Marketing to “vulnerable populations”
-Avoidance of corruption/bribery
-Doing business in unstable places
-Worker rights
Term
Patents
Definition

- "meant for things" - gives holder exclusive rights to use/sell/license their invention for 20 years after filing

- for new, useful, and non-obvios innovations

- machines, processes, chemical compounds

- not for abstract ideas

 

- US patent rights are effective only within the US

Term
Trademark
Definition

- meant for distinctive name or symbol

- protects brand reputation

- 10 yrs, renewable, registration required

- cannot be used by others in class

- can lose if ordinary usage, e.g. aspirin

Term
Piracy
Definition

- China is the largest source of counterfeits seized

- 90% of digital recordings are pirate

- brand names are main focus

Term
Trade Secrets
Definition

- intended to keep information from becoming public knowledge

- secrets that give edge - list of suppliers, prices, formula, pattern, processes, operations, materials, etc.

- liability if acquired by improper means

- users must often sign non-compete agreements

- affects workers that transfer within industry

Term
IP Protection Decision
Definition

1. Invention disclosure


then one of three options


- Copyright and publish (preempt patents by others)/Trademark

- Maintain as trade secret (computer codes, product formula, etc)

- File patent application (US and/or foreign)


3. Litigation decision

Term
Interlectual Property Protection
Definition

- monopoly granted in the short run to spur dynamic efficiency in the long run

- creates incentives to use resources efficiently

- 75% of value in publicly traded firms comes from intangible assets

Term
Antitrust Conduct Statutes
Definition

- Sherman Act (1890)

- Section 1 - every contract or conspiracy in restraint of trade is illegal

Section 2 - Every person who shall monopolize any part of trade is guilty of a felony


- EC Treaty (1990)

- Article 81 - Prohibits agreements between firms to prevent competition in Common Market

- Article 82 - Any improper exploitation of a dominant position in common market is prohibited

Term
Horizontal Antitrust Concerns
Definition

- most serious antitrust infractions

- price fixing (per se illegal)

- Non-price manipulation (it affects prices somehow)

Term
Vertical Antitrust Issues
Definition

- bundling/tying/exclusive dealing

- (rule of reason)

Term
Price and Non/Price Practices
Definition

Horizontal/Price - Price fixing (2 agree on price)

Horizontal/Non-price - Allocation of customers (agree to divide up buyers and not sell each others list)

 

Vertical/Price - Resale Price Maintanence (Mfr tells Macy's to sell product for atleast a certain price)

Vertical/Non-price - Exclusive Dealings (tell a wholesaler to sell only in a specific area and its the only distr. there)

Term
Screening Questions (Antitrust)
Definition

Is the practice "manifestly anticompetitive?

Are there no possible "redeeming virtues?


If Yes - per se illegal - just need to determine if defendant engaged in act


If no - Rule of Reason (more questions)

- legitimate business purpose served?

- less restrictive alternatives available

- is competition enhanced?

- are similar practices used by competitors?

Term
Structural School of thought (Antitrust)
Definition

- Markets are fragile and prone to failure

- Govt needs to protect society from economic power

- Market power derives from horizontal power and from vertical arrangements

- Solution - proscribe many practices as per se offenses

Term
Chicago School of Thought (Antitrust)
Definition

- Markets are resilient

- competition, not govt, is the best protector of consumers and economic efficiency

- market power can only rise from horizontal power

- Solution - Judge business practices in terms of their effects on efficiency and prices - Rule of Reason

Term
New Industrial Org. school of Thought (Antitrust)
Definition

- markets are resilient but have imperfections

- competition is the best protection of consumers, but govt can be required

- market power is derived from horizontal factors but can be extended through vertical arrangements and strategic behavior


- Solution - judge business practices in terms of impact on current and future competition

- Use rule of reason except for 'egregioug' practices such as price fixing

Term
When does collusion occur?
Definition

- Structural school - cartels almost always agree to raise list prices or lower total production or both

 

- Chicago School - difficult and unlikely, may occur in industries with govt regulation

 

- New IO School - is possible with repeated encounters

Term
Monopoly
Definition

- possession of monopoly power in a relevant market with INTENT to suppress competition

- not as a consequence of superior product, historical accident, business acumen

Term
Monopoly power
Definition

- the power to control price or exclude a competitor

- requires predation and entry deterrence

Term
Structural and Conduct Remedies
Definition

Structural remedy - meger prevented, contracts dissolved, divestiture


Conduct remedy - forced licensing of IP, change in rebate practices

Term
Clayton Act - Section 7
Definition
- mergers are prohibted if their effect 'may be substantially to lessen competition or tend to create a monopoly'
Term
EU Merger Regulation
Definition

- Merger Regulation 1989 - prohibits concentration with a community dimension by which effective competition is significantly impeded

 

EU Merger Reform 2002  - new guidelines expand consideration of efficiency claims

Term
Screening Questions (Mergers)
Definition

- Will a merger significantly increase concentration?

- Does a merger raise concern about competition?

- Is another entrant likely to counteract the competitive effects of concern?

- re there efficiency gains that can't be achieved by any other means?

- But for the merger, will either party fail?

Bottom Line: Do customers pay lower prices?


Term

Market Concentration

(Herfindahl-Hirschman Index)

Definition

HHI - Sum(market shares) ^ 2

- If HHI < 1000 --- Not challenged

- If HHI = 1000-1800 --- unlikely challanged

If HHI > 1800 --- likely to investigate

(increase of a 100 likely to create market power)

Term
Corporate Conflict of Interest
Definition
- arises when an executive, an officeholder, or even an organization encounters a situation where official action or influence has the potential to benefit private interest
Term
Principal-Agent Problem
Definition

- any situation in which one party (the principal) needs to delegate actions to another party (the agent)

- principal (shareholders) - wants to provide the agent with incentives to work hard and make decisions about risk that reflect the interests of the principal

- agent (managers) - may have interests that conflict with the principal's and the ability to pursue those interests

 

- reflects market failures of asymmetric info and moral hazard

 

Term
Fraud
Definition

- knowing misrepresentation of a material fact on which a victim reasonably relies and which causes damages (losses)

- increase transaction costs of trade

Term
Managerial Self-dealing
Definition

- appropriating property of others (shareholders) without their consent

- managers collecting unwarranted benefits

- unproductive uncertainty for investors

 

Term
Solving Principal-Agent Problem
Definition

1. Align incentives

2. Monitor - (but costly)

3. Punish - strong enough punishment can make agent act on principals interests

 

who? Board of directors

Term
Duties of Corporate Officers
Definition

1. Obedience - must act within employment authority

2. Diligence - standard of reasonable care in performing acts that could potentially hurt others

3. Loyalty - put companies interests before self-interest

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