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Marc van Essen wins Richard N. Farmer Dissertation Award

Marc van Essen wins Richard N. Farmer Dissertation Award

The Academy of International Business (AIB) has awarded the Richard N. Farmer Award 2012 for the best dissertation in International Business to Dr. Marc van Essen, who graduated from Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) in 2011.

In his PhD thesis An Institution-Based View of Ownership, Van Essen looks at the association between ownership concentration and firm performance. He argues that this is very much influenced by both formal institutions like a country’s legal framework, labour protection and shareholder provisions as well as informal institutions like culture and codes of good corporate governance influence. The same goes for the association between firm performance and executive remuneration, as well as for the level of under-pricing of IPOs. In his thesis he studies the influence of formal and informal institutions on the effectiveness of ownership concentration.  Not only does he demonstrate the importance of institutions on the efficiency of large shareholders within Asiatic and European countries, but he also shows that a better developed legal framework reduces the level of IPO underpricing as well as strengthens the association between firm performance and executive remuneration.

In his thesis, Van Essen also analyses the question whether the identity of shareholders has an effect on the strategy and profitability of listed companies in diverse contexts. For the two types of shareholders central in this thesis, listed family companies in a North-American context and companies linked to business groups, this indeed seems to be the case.

About Marc van Essen
Marc van Essen (1984, the Netherlands) received his MSc degree in Economics and Law (cum laude) from Utrecht University. He took his PhD at RSM, graduating in 2011. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Finance at the Utrecht School of Economics at Utrecht University and moves later this year to Darla Moore School of Business at University of South Carolina. His research interests include comparative corporate governance, family business, and meta-analytic research methods. His work has been published or is forthcoming in Academy of Management Journal, Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Management, Organizational Science, and Review of Law and Economics. He is a member of the Academy of Management, American Law and Economics Association, and Meta-Analysis of Economics Research (MAER) Network.

About the Richard N. Farmer Dissertation Award
The Richard N. Farmer Award for the best thesis or dissertation in International Business is open to all PhD and DBA graduates who successfully defended their theses/dissertations between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2011. Any topic that contributes to basic or applied knowledge in International Business, broadly defined, is eligible to compete for this award. Sponsored by the Michigan State University CIBER, the winner will receive a plaque and a US$1,000 cash award. The 2012 selection committee consisted of Mike Peng (Chair), University of Texas at Dallas; Hyung-Jung Lee, London School of Economics; Anupama Phene, George Washington University; and Kevin Zhou, University of Hong Kong.https://aib.msu.edu/events/2012/FarmerAward.asp 

About Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM)
RSM is consistently ranked amongst the top 10 business schools in Europe. www.rsm.nlIt is located in the international port city of Rotterdam where core Dutch values of openness, flexibility and acceptance of diversity have attracted businesses on a global scale. Our emphasis is on groundbreaking research and practices relevant to business; our primary focus is on developing business leaders who carry their innovative ideas into a sustainable future. Our portfolio includes a broad array of bachelor, master, doctoral, MBA and executive education programmes. 

For more information on RSM or on this release, please contact Marianne Schouten, Media & Public Relations Manager for RSM, on +31 10 408 2877 or by email at mschouten@remove-this.rsm.nl.