How Valuable are the Patents Behind Section 337 Cases?

A US patent protects the owner of the intellectual property from imitators producing in the US and foreign imitators selling in the US market. There are two venues for filing infringement cases against international infringement of US patents, with the International Trade Commission (ITC) using Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 or with federal district courts. Three indicators of patent value suggest that patents litigated under Section 337 are on average more valuable; however, their values tend to be more variable. The latter suggests that some firms may be using Section 337 not for protection against international infringement of US patents but for protection against imports.     

论美国关税法337条款在GATT1994下的合法性——基于国际判例的思考

对337条款在GATT1994下合法性的正确评判,将会影响对337条款的态度及应对策略的制定。20世纪80年代,加拿大和欧共体曾经分别在关贸总协定体系内挑战过337条款的合法性。第一个案件专家组报告肯定了该案中337条款的合法性,第二个案件专家组报告对337条款的合法性总体上予以肯定,但也指出了337条款四个具体违法之处。1994年,美国制定了《乌拉圭回合协议法》,有针对性地对专家组报告指出的四点进行了修改。修改后,337条款已经符合GATT1994的要求。一般性地起诉337条款违反GATT1994非常困难,可以在个案中结合具体案情向WTO申诉。     

美国对华337调查的变化趋势研究

近年来,美国越来越多地使用337调查阻碍中国产品出口,337调查成为美国对华进行贸易限制的除"两反两保"之外的又一重要手段。理论和实证分析表明:美国对华337调查具有简便性、歧视性、严厉性、广泛性和持续性等特点,并呈现出调查数量上升、专利侵权为主要诉由、涉案产业高技术化等趋势。337调查有其致命的杀伤力,如侵权成立,相关产品将永久地被排除在美国市场之外。因此,对于滥用337调查而产生的知识产权壁垒,中国应采取建立激励相容的自由贸易机制、实施知识产权发展战略、做好预警与应诉等相关措施"拆壁破垒"。     

Product Regulation and Stock Prices: The Case of the US Food and Drug Administration

This study focuses on the stock market effects associated with the announcements of product approvals, denials and recalls by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the impact of product approvals on research and development expenditures (R&D) and forecasts of earnings by Value Line. When the FDA announces approvals, the shareholder wealth of affected firms increases significantly. The announcements of denials and recalls by the FDA are associated with stock price declines. The stock price impact of recalls is dependent on whether the firm voluntarily withdraws a product or if the withdrawal is mandated by the FDA. Specifically, voluntary recalls are not associated with a change in stockholder wealth, while FDA mandated recalls are associated with decreases in stock price. In addition, we find that partial product recalls have a smaller impact than total recalls. An examination of the effects on competitors' stock price reveals losses when the FDA announces an approval or a recall, but no imt for a d. An analysis of changes in risk around FDA decisions suggests that, on average, betas do not change around approvals, recalls or denials. In addition, our results suggest that announcement period stock price behavior is unrelated to risk changes except for approvals where returns are positive and significant for firms with either increasing risk or no change in risk. We also find that approvals are associated with increases in R&D and forecasts of earnings for the sample firms, with returns to stockholders upon announcement of the approval being related to the increases in R&D and short-term earnings forecasts.     

International diversification of family-dominant firms: Integrating socioemotional wealth and behavioral theory of the firm

Drawing on the behavioral theory of the firm, we shed light on an extant debate about whether family firms are more or less likely to diversify internationally. In an analysis of firm-level data from 93 countries over 2011–2018, we find that family-dominant firms—with their established preference for low breadth-high depth international diversification—will seek to increase their breadth when performance falls below aspiration level, but that doing so can hurt their performance stability. Our study advances the literature by identifying important boundary conditions to their prioritization of socioemotional wealth and micro-foundational mechanisms that underlie strategic change in family-dominant firms.     

A socioemotional wealth perspective on how collaboration intensity,trust, and international market knowledge affect family firms’ multinationality

Internationalization theory does not account for the priority family firms place on socioemotional wealth (SEW). This can reshape how critical theoretical dimensions of collaboration intensity, network trust, and international market knowledge exert their effects. Bringing together the internationalization model of Johanson and Vahlne (2009) with SEW theory, our study of 334 German-speaking family firms reveals international market knowledge mediates the relationship between collaboration intensity and family firms’ multinationality. High network trust positively moderates the relationship between collaboration intensity and the acquisition of international market knowledge. Our work expands the predictive ability of Johanson and Vahlne’s (2009) important model.     

美国“337”条款与我国企业对策研究

对美国"337"条款缺乏了解与对策已成为我国企业在对美贸易中遭受损失的重要原因之一,本文在对美国"337"条款进行分析的基础上对我国企业提出相应的对策建议。     

Megamarketing

Abstract

Recent political, economic, and social changes occurring in Eastern Europe are providing opportunities for Western firms to expand to this region. This study presents evidence on the wealth effects associated with expansion by U.S. firms to Eastern European countries. The results of this study show that differential wealth effects are associated with announcements of different modes of expansion, and with country of expansion. The results suggest that Hungary and Poland are important for expansion to Eastern Europe, and that joint ventures should be the preferred mode of expansion for U.S. firms seeking to expand to Eastern Europe. The results also suggest that investors are able to discern between different levels of country risk.     

Impacts of International Greenfield Investment on Firm Valuation

Our study examines the announcement effects of 343 international greenfield investments by 289 U.S. firms for their impact on shareholder wealth. This paper develops five hypotheses based on the positive‐multinational‐network hypothesis. The evidence indicates that market reactions to announcements by firms entering developing countries are more favorable than those entering developed countries. In addition, the results show that the wealth effect for firms entering a host country for the first time is greater than for those that are already operating within the country. As for the long run, greenfield firms have shown improvement in their operating performance and stock performance. Copyright © 2012 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

美国对华“337调查”及其应对研究

随着中国高附加值、高技术含量产品的出口比例不断增加,中美贸易中的知识产权冲突日趋激烈。＂337调查＂已成为继反倾销调查后中国产品出口美国的主要障碍,越来越多的中国企业成为337调查的调查对象,严重制约了中国优势产业产品向美国的出口,给中国出口企业造成巨大的经济损失。通过分析美国对中国＂337调查＂的案件,解读＂337条款＂,提高对＂337条款＂内容的认识和理解,积极拓展应诉渠道。     

CEO's Total Wealth Characteristics and Implications on Firm Risk

We study the connections between firm risk and the CEO's personal wealth characteristics, using a unique dataset on CEO wealth and its components. Consistent with decreasing absolute risk aversion, we find that wealthier CEOs are associated with higher risk firms. Riskier firms tend to have CEOs whose wealth is more independent of the firm. We also find that CEOs with high personal portfolio betas run firms with higher betas. CEO's tenure is negatively associated with firm risk measured either as beta, idiosynchratic risk, or volatility of accounting profitability. A possible interpretation is that risk‐averse managers are better able to imprint their risk preferences on the firm over time. Stronger corporate governance weakens the connection between CEO wealth characteristics and firm risk.     

Wealth effects on cross-border acquisition firms from emerging economies

Cross-border acquisitions (CBAs), as a corporate expansion strategy, are being espoused by emerging market firms (EMFs) to overcome their competitive disadvantage at the global level. The objective of this paper is to analyse the wealth effects of cross-border acquisition announcement on the acquiring firms from emerging economies during the period of 2001–17. Wealth effects have been measured in terms of short-term change in equity prices (investors' reaction) around the public announcement of 553 and 125 overseas acquisitions by Indian and Chinese listed firms respectively. The investors' reaction to the acquisition of a foreign target has been captured using the event study methodology. Further, a disaggregated analysis has been conducted to gauge the impact of various deal-specific factors, the legal structure of the target firm and the development status of the target country on the wealth creation potential of a cross-border acquisition.Both Indian and Chinese investors have responded favourably to the announcement of international acquisitions as exhibited in significant and positive average abnormal returns of 0.71% and 0.23% respectively on the event day. Further, it is revealing to note that investors in these economies differ widely with regard to their perception pertaining to the method of payment and acquisition strategy. At the same time, the extent of wealth creation is higher when acquired firms are based in developed economies possessing high quality resources and advanced technology along with better institutional and regulatory milieu; Indian as well as Chinese markets have experienced larger abnormal returns on acquiring advanced vis-à-vis developing market firms.     

出口企业如何应对美国“337调查”

继以往反倾销之后,美国企业开始对中国出口产品频繁提起“337条款”诉讼,该条款具有的永久排斥性使其成为影响中国企业出口的又一严重贸易壁垒。由于“337条款”调查涉及的内容在技术上比较专业,对应诉企业来讲,应对起来比反倾销更为复杂。我国应加强宣传和培训工作、事先预防、建立知识产权预警、审查机制,一旦涉案,积极应诉。     

Entering the last frontier: expansion by US multinationals to Africa

Literature on multinationalism, even that which focuses on economic development and incentives for foreign direct investment (FDI), largely ignores the African continent despite its market of over 700 million inhabitants and its unique challenges for foreign firms. However, the African continent provides an important arena for examining the effects of infrastructure, wealth, and political differentials across countries and the effects of these variables on the expansion decisions of US multinational corporations (MNCs). In this paper we examine the US stock market reaction to announcements of US firms entering African markets through both FDI and Non-FDI modes. Finally, we investigate the accounting performance implications of these expansions. Our results show that, on average, firms experience negative wealth effects when expanding to Africa. Further analysis shows that expansions to South Africa produce losses, while expansion to the rest of Africa produce positive gains. We also show that firms with higher return on equity perform better than firms with lower return on equity when they expand to Africa in countries other than South Africa.     

EXPANSION STRATEGIES OF U.S. MNCs IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

Significant economic activities in the Latin American and Caribbean countries (LACs) since the debt crisis of the early to mid-1980s have created opportunities for U.S. firms to expand their business presence in the region. This study provides evidence on the shareholders' wealth effects of expansion by U.S. firms into the LACs. Three hundred twenty-two announcements of expansion to the LACs by U.S. firms during 1980 1996 are analyzed using event study methodology. Statistically significant excess returns of 0.52 percent are observed for the average expansion. Analysis of subsamples by mode of expansion shows that announcements of both FDI and non-FDI forms of expansion produce positive significant excess re turns. Significant positive reactions are observed for expansion to Brazil. Cross-sectional regression results provide additional insights into the determinants of wealth effects for these announcements.     

An analysis of bank stock price reaction to distressed borrowers: Taiwanese evidence

This paper investigates the impacts of a borrower's reorganisation plan confirmation on its lending bank's shareholder wealth. Earlier empirical research is completely silent on this research area. Using data from a sample of Taiwanese reorganised firms, this paper shows that the market discriminates among lending banks by making inferences based on their exposure to their reorganised borrower; that is, the lead lending banks experience negative wealth effects, whereas the second lending banks experience positive effects. The results also show that wealth effects are negatively related to loan collateral and rates charged on the loans as well as on corporate leverage. In addition, the reliability and robustness of the model are demonstrated by the receiver operating characteristic curves.     

《美国1930年关税法》337条款实证研究

本文全面梳理统计1986年以来所有涉华337调查,通过详实准确的实证研究及数据调查,总结综述近年来涉华337调查的特征规律及发展趋势。在此基础上,深入探析337条款在WTO框架下的合法性,聚焦337条款与GATT第3条国民待遇原则的相悖性、第20条(d)款国民待遇原则例外的可适用性以及与TRIPS协议第41条的一致性问题,进而探讨将337条款诉诸WTO的可行性操作方案。     

Do investment determinants and effects vary across sovereign wealth fund categories? A firm-level analysis

This paper investigates whether determinants and effects of sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) investment vary across types of funds. To address this issue, we classify SWFs based on their scope and the origin of wealth. We find that saving and reserve funds and non-commodity funds pick better-performing firms. Furthermore, effects vary among SWF categories. In fact, saving and reserve funds assume a passive role in managing investments, unlike multi-objective and development funds which have detrimental effects on the target companies. As a whole, these findings confirm that heterogeneity of SWFs in terms of how they target firms and activism matters.     

Monopolistic competition: CES redux?

We study the competitive and reallocation effects of trade opening in monopolistic competition. To this purpose, we generalize the Melitz (2003) setup with heterogeneous firms and fixed and variable trade costs beyond the CES to the case of additively separable utility functions. We find that extensive margin (Melitz-type selection) effects are robust to relaxing the CES assumption. Intensive margin effects (market share reallocations across inframarginal firms) and competitive (markup) effects are instead fragile. An important implication is that measured productivity gains from trade opening are no longer ensured with non-CES preferences. We discuss our results in the light of alternative setups featuring non-additive preferences, strategic interaction and consumers' preference for an ideal variety.     

Configuration and coordination of international marketing activities

With this paper, we contribute to the literature of configuration and coordination in international firms. While previous literature emphasized that headquarters decide upon the configuration and coordination of their foreign subsidiaries, we suggest that the configuration–coordination decision takes place at the level of activities. With a focus on international marketing activities, our study on German firms from the automotive industry comes up with the following major findings: (1) With respect to configuration, firms tend to centralize the planning and the control of marketing activities, but to decentralize the implementation of marketing activities. (2) For the coordination of marketing activities, direct personal supervision and informal communication are preferred to other approaches, such as socialization or formal bureaucratic coordination. (3) When combining configuration and coordination of marketing activities, we identified distinct clusters. Firms that have a high decentralization of marketing activities and that use a high level of coordination yield better coordination results than firms from other configuration–coordination clusters.