Prof. Marc Goergen on Corporate Governance

In what follows, I and my co-authors respond to criticism voiced by the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (BVCA) about a study we conducted. The original BVCA press release can be found here.A new paper by Geoffrey Wood of Warwick Business School, Marc Goergen of Cardiff University and Noel O'Sullivan of Loughborough University - 'The Employment Consequences of Private Equity Acquisitions: The Case Of Institutional Buy Outs' - looks at the changes to employment and productivity in companies that have been the subject of institutional buyouts (IBOs) compared to matched companies that did not receive such a buyout.The paper looks at an initial total of 106 IBOs undertaken over the period 1997 to 2006. This is in the context of 2,200 management buyouts (MBOs) and 500 management buy-ins (MBIs)[1] taking place in the UK over the same time period.As it makes explicit, the study focuses "exclusively on the employment consequences of institutional buyouts…

Firms hold cash for several reasons, e.g., to seize strategic opportunities as they arise or as a buffer against unexpected shocks. While research has focused on the question as to how much cash a firm should hold, it has mostly ignored how quickly firms move back to their optimal or target cash holdings level once they have been pushed away from that level. Read more here.

A commentary in the Fortune Magazine mentions my research on how female directors influence dividend policy. The study itself can be downloaded for free from the Journal of Corporate Finance. The commentary can be found here.

This is an updated version of my 2019 course outline, which can be found here. All of the practical cases can be obtained from Harvard Business Publishing.
COURSE DESCRIPTION Who Should Take this Course?
Corporate governance is frequently reduced to compliance and box ticking. This course will show you that corporate governance is more than this and that it can be used proactively to create value. The course will also show you that the optimal corporate governance arrangements vary across firms: What may be optimal for a mature firm may not work for an early venture, and vice-versa.

This course is aimed at three different constituencies. First, it is aimed at budding entrepreneurs who want to know more about designing the governance of their ventures in view of ultimately going public. Second, it is also aimed at those who aspire to a career as a non-executive director. Finally, the course should also be of interest to investors and other parties interested in how corporate control, o…

A number of governments (notably those in India, California, and parts of Europe) are pushing for greater female representation in the boardroom. And several studies suggest why: Having women on the board results better acquisition and investment decisions and in less aggressive risk-taking, yielding benefits for shareholders. What’s less clear is why these effects happen. See more.

The effects of women on boards are also discussed in chapter 7 of my corporate governance textbook.