University of Vaasa
The 24th Workshop on Corporate Governance and Investment
September 19-20, 2025
Program
University of Vaasa, Auditorium Kurtén (C203), Wolffintie 32, Vaasa
Opening of the Workshop: 9:00-9:05Sami Vähämaa (University of Vaasa) |
Friday Session 1: 09:05-10:50Ownership |
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| Paper 1: | Foundation Ownership and Financial Performance |
| David Schröder (Copenhagen Business School) Steen Thomsen (Copenhagen Business School & ECGI) |
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| Discussant: | Bartolomé Pascual-Fuster (Universitat de les Illes Balears) |
| Paper 2: | Opportunistic or Trustworthy Owners? Evidence from the Dividend Policy |
| Laura Rondi (Politecnico di Torino) | |
| Discussant: | Miguel A. García Cestona (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) |
| Paper 3: | Institutional Ownership Type and Firms’ Involvement in ESG Activities |
| Anna Agapova (Florida Atlantic University) Tatiana King (University of Vaasa) Jukka Sihvonen (Aalto University School of Business) Emilia Vähämaa (Hanken School of Economics) |
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| Discussant: | David Schröder (Copenhagen Business School) |
| Coffee Break: 10:50-11:10 | |
Friday Session 2: 11:10-12:20CEOs |
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| Paper 1: | CEO Marital Status and Firm Diversification |
| Shuhui Wang (University of Surrey) Marc Goergen (IE Business School) |
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| Discussant: | Denis Davydov (Hanken School of Economics) |
| Paper 2: | Outliers in CEO Compensation: The Case of Elon Musk’s 2018 Pay Package |
| Kam-Ming Wan (Hanken School of Economics) Joseph P.H. Fan (University of Queensland) |
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| Discussant: | Timothy King (University of Vaasa) |
| Lunch Break: 12:20-13:30 | |
Friday Session 3: 13:30-14:40Governance, Employee Protection, and Property Rights |
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| Paper 1: | Corporate Internal Employee Protection and Voluntary BLER Regime in Nordic Countries |
| Qianyun Han (University of Groningen) Niels Hermes (University of Groningen) Reggy Hooghiemstra (University of Groningen) |
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| Discussant: | Benjamin Maury (Hanken School of Economics) |
| Paper 2: | Property Rights Economics and Firm Boundaries: Explaining Ubiquitous Business Groups |
| Ruth Aguilera (Northeastern University) Rafel Crespi-Cladera (Universitat de les Illes Balears) Alfredo Martín-Oliver (Universitat de les Illes Balears) Bartolomé Pascual-Fuster (Universitat de les Illes Balears) |
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| Discussant: | Niels Hermes (University of Groningen) |
| Coffee Break: 14:40-15:00 | |
Friday Session 4: 15:00-16:10Corporate Social Responsibility |
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| Paper 1: | Political Ideology in the C-Suite: A Measurement Methodology, Tool, and Extended Analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility |
| M.K. Chin (Indiana University) Justin Davis (Washington and Lee University) |
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| Discussant: | Shuhui Wang (University of Surrey) |
| Paper 2: | Stakeholder-Oriented Governance and Firms’ Societal Impact |
| Benjamin Maury (Hanken School of Economics) Niclas Meyer (Hanken School of Economics) Anete Pajuste (Stockholm School of Economics – Riga) |
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| Discussant: | Jianan Lu (University of Vaasa) |
| Workshop Dinner: 19:00-22:00 |
Saturday Session 1: 09:00-10:45Banking |
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| Paper 1: | Investigating the Effects of Firm-Level Waste Management on Bank Lending Decisions: Evidence from the US Syndicated Loan Market |
| Alexander MacGibbon (University of Queensland) Searat Ali (University of Wollongong) Ihtisham Malik (Ajman University) Jamshed Iqbal (University of Jyväskylä) |
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| Discussant: | Claudio Oliveira de Moraes (Central Bank of Brazil) |
| Paper 2: | Climate Attitudes and Banks’ Climate Risk Disclosure |
| Veda Fatmy (University of Vaasa) Ly Pham (University of Vaasa) Sami Vähämaa (University of Vaasa) |
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| Discussant: | Ata Can Bertay (Sabanci University) |
| Paper 3: | The Low Leverage Puzzle in Microfinance Institutions |
| Reidar Øystein Strøm (Oslo Metropolitan University) Einar Bakke (Oslo Metropolitan University) Sturla Fjesme (Oslo Metropolitan University) Roy Mersland (University of Agder) |
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| Discussant: | Jamshed Iqbal (University of Jyväskylä) |
| Coffee Break: 10:45-11:00 | |
Saturday Session 2: 11:00-12:10Productivity and Financial Distress |
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| Paper 1: | Listed Family Firms and Financial Distress |
| Simon Daniel Brinkmann (Philipps-Universität Marburg) Marc Steffen Rapp (Philipps-Universität Marburg & Copenhagen Business School) |
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| Discussant: | Markku Kaustia (Aalto University School of Business) |
| Paper 2: | Fiscal Monitoring Policy and Corporate R&D Productivity |
| Mohamed Shaker Ahmed (Cairo University) Timothy King (University of Vaasa) |
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| Discussant: | Kam-Ming Wan (Hanken School of Economics) |
| Lunch: 12:10-13:00 |
Workshop registration:
Non-presenting participants are kindly asked to register using this registration form by September 11, 2025. There is no workshop participation fee.
The deadline for paper submissions was May 15, 2025, and authors were notified about the status of their submissions in mid-June.
Click here to read the Call for Papers
About the WCGI:
The 1st WCGI was held at the University of Cambridge in 1998. Since then, the WCGI has travelled across Europe and beyond: University of Cambridge (1998, 2001, 2007), Aarhus University (1999), DIW Berlin (2000), University of Vienna (2001), Universitat de Les Balears (2005, 2018), Jönköping International Business School (2006), Sabanci University Istanbul (2008, 2016), Copenhagen Business School (2009, 2022), Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona (2010), HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management (2011), Cardiff Business School (2012), American University of Sharjah (2013), BI Norwegian Business School (2014), Alliance Manchester Business School (2015), SEF (2017), Oslo Metropolitan University (2019), University of Groningen (2021), Philipps-Universität Marburg (2023), University of Aberdeen (2024).