Pension funds have pursued an active role in corporate
governance, although some question their effectiveness and
motivations. We examine the impact and motivation of pension fund
activism by studying the shareholder proposals of the largest,
most active funds from 1987 through 1993. We find significant
heterogeneity across funds in activism objectives, tactics, and
impact on target firms, consistent with differing investment
strategies. We find the funds are more successful at monitoring
and promoting change in target firms than previously recognized.
We also find no evidence to support motivations other than fund
value maximization.
%0 Journal Article
%1 DelG-Hawk-1999
%A Guercio, Diane Del
%A Hawkins, Jennifer
%D 1999
%K imported
%N 3
%P 293-340
%T The Motivation and Impact of Pension Fund Activism
%V 52
%X Pension funds have pursued an active role in corporate
governance, although some question their effectiveness and
motivations. We examine the impact and motivation of pension fund
activism by studying the shareholder proposals of the largest,
most active funds from 1987 through 1993. We find significant
heterogeneity across funds in activism objectives, tactics, and
impact on target firms, consistent with differing investment
strategies. We find the funds are more successful at monitoring
and promoting change in target firms than previously recognized.
We also find no evidence to support motivations other than fund
value maximization.
@article{DelG-Hawk-1999,
abstract = {Pension funds have pursued an active role in corporate
governance, although some question their effectiveness and
motivations. We examine the impact and motivation of pension fund
activism by studying the shareholder proposals of the largest,
most active funds from 1987 through 1993. We find significant
heterogeneity across funds in activism objectives, tactics, and
impact on target firms, consistent with differing investment
strategies. We find the funds are more successful at monitoring
and promoting change in target firms than previously recognized.
We also find no evidence to support motivations other than fund
value maximization.},
added-at = {2006-07-21T20:00:04.000+0200},
author = {Guercio, Diane Del and Hawkins, Jennifer},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/272c8e17c78f9d7a79d461d352973efc9/deepgorge},
interhash = {609e9335d0b6d8f0032364b0c952ba81},
intrahash = {72c8e17c78f9d7a79d461d352973efc9},
keywords = {imported},
month = {1 June},
number = 3,
pages = {293-340},
timestamp = {2006-07-21T20:00:04.000+0200},
title = {The Motivation and Impact of Pension Fund Activism},
volume = 52,
year = 1999
}