Currently, the research group is particularly involved in the following three areas of research:
Textual analysis to qualify and quantify corporate information to investigate the impact on financial valuation:
Language used by managers and media to report on firms and stock markets affects returns and suggests (latent) management activities. The CFG studies whether simplified news, tone, and the use of mainstream subjects configure retail investors' beliefs and, in turn, financial valuation.
Corporate governance and its effects on corporate value, M&A, and financing decisions
The system of rules, practices, and processes by which a firm is managed and controlled involves balancing the interests of shareholders, management, customers, suppliers, financiers, government, and the local community. The CFG studies the consequences of those different settings, emphasizing EU companies–of which family-managed corporations could represent a possible ownership archetype.
Funding capital for innovation
Innovation activities are more difficult to fund than traditional ones due to the higher social returns compared to private returns and the huge information asymmetry involved in such transactions. Thus, venture capitalists must find alternate funding mechanisms for new entrants and startup firms. Staged capital infusion and pooled VCs (Venture Capitals) financing are possible control mechanisms to monitor entrepreneurs and gather relevant information to limit the menace of funding bad deals. The CFG attempts to resolve these questions.