Mehmet Bolak, Erkin Diyarbakirlioglu and Ömür Süer
The purpose of this paper is to examine the foreign ownership patterns in local stocks in an emerging capital market, i.e. the Istanbul stock exchange (ISE), to derive insights…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the foreign ownership patterns in local stocks in an emerging capital market, i.e. the Istanbul stock exchange (ISE), to derive insights into the linkage between foreign investors’ equity‐level preferences and the information provided by the corresponding firm's financial statements.
Design/methodology/approach
The data consists of foreign ownership share in non‐financial stocks over the period 2004‐2008 in the ISE. Given the time‐series cross‐sectional span of our data set, we run our regression analyses of the foreign ownership of Turkish stocks on various firm‐specific financial characteristics.
Findings
Our analyses suggest that foreign investors are more likely to hold shares in firms with larger market capitalization and those with low leverage and book‐to‐market ratios. Overall, the results provide suggestive evidence on the asymmetric information hypothesis between local and non‐local investors and, accordingly, useful insights into the equity home bias puzzle.
Practical implications
From a practical viewpoint, understanding the impact of firm‐level characteristics on foreign investors’ preferences may provide valuable insights about the reasons and timing of foreign inflows or outflows of capital, to people at managerial positions.
Originality/value
The examination of the foreign ownership at a security level is expected to contribute into the ongoing debate on the determinants of cross‐border portfolio holdings, in general, and the reasons of the persistent home bias worldwide, in particular.
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The purpose of this paper is to determine the most successful companies on social responsibility issues based on the data collected through a field survey and to see the corporate…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to determine the most successful companies on social responsibility issues based on the data collected through a field survey and to see the corporate social responsibility (CSR) approach of the five most mentioned companies, their future projects, and their main social investment drivers in order to clarify the future prospects of CSR in the Turkish context.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, data was collected from two sources, at first; a survey is conducted on consumers. Second, face‐to‐face interviews are realized to illuminate the future prospects on CSR issues of these firms and to elucidate their vision.
Findings
Not surprisingly, the most appreciated companies on CSR have a pro‐active approach. However, this should not be taken as a reality of Turkey since these companies are leaders in the field. The most important issues according to consumers and these managers, and the main basic principles of the companies making a CSR investment, are determined.
Research limitations/implications
Though the aim of this study had been to examine the future prospects of CSR projects in Turkey, the interviewees didn't give details about their future projects. It is also impossible to make generalizations for Turkey with the data collected from consumers as it was collected only in the Istanbul urban area. Concerning the interviews, only five firms are included in the second part of the study.
Practical implications
The study enriches the extant literature and provides future research areas as well as insights and basic principles for managerial use in determining the most suitable CSR strategies and investing for CSR projects.
Originality/value
As the subject of the study is open to continuous development, this study shows the current situation on CSR issues via the leader companies in Turkey according to consumers.