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The real side of the high-volume return premium

Unexpected Distractions and Investor Attention to Corporate Announcements

Hedging on the Hill: Does political hedging reduce firm risk?

Partisanship, Political Institutions, and Debt Issues

Is There a Dark Side to Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)? An Information Perspective

Volatility forecasting using financial statement information

Disclosure and lawsuits ahead of IPOs

As we enter an emotionally charged election filled with uncertainty, Emory University's Goizueta Business School professor Suhas Sridharan joins to discuss corporate political strategy. Learn from the transformative and tumultuous journeys of global giants like Uber and Facebook – and find out how navigating policy making and the regulatory landscape just may make or break your business.   Business and politics. Two huge institutions that are inseparably intertwined. As we enter an emotionally charged election year, businesses and individuals are speculating how political outcomes will impact their lives and the success of their organizations.  Suhas Sridharan joins to discuss how you can navigate political systems to achieve the mission of your organization, actions you can take to influence policy making and political outcomes, and how the regulatory landscape can make or break your business. We’ll also delve into the role that activists, interest groups and corporate social responsibility play in shaping your success. Suhas is an associate professor in Accounting at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. Prior to this, she earned her PhD in business administration from Stanford University's Graduate School of Business. Her expertise has been featured in leading publications including the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and Financial Times. Identifying Pivotal Politicians Suhas discusses strategies for identifying politicians pivotal to a company's mission, highlighting the use of data-driven tools to measure political ideologies. She offers the resource voteview.com as a starting point for exploration. When it comes to influencing these politicians, she discusses the merits of differing strategies, including reaching out to politicians that run counter to your strategies and convincing them to become allies versus connecting with politicians already aligned with your cause and encouraging them to use their networks and influence to support your objectives, the latter of which is known as sequential lobbying. Melanie and Suhas also delve into additional actions businesses can take to influence politicians and political outcomes. They discuss campaign finance, the role of PACs, and the misconception surrounding corporate contributions to political campaigns, where owners, employees, and families may contribute to these funds, but not corporations themselves.   The Revolving Door Strategy As Suhas elaborates on the value of board appointments, she emphasizes the benefits to corporations of hiring individuals with political experience to navigate regulatory environments, also known as the revolving door strategy. She touches on the power of industry-level cooperation and coalitions, such as trade associations, in influencing policy.  Expansion and Challenges of Uber Melanie and Suhas reflect on Uber's approach to navigating regulatory challenges and the timing of business actions in relation to political landscapes. Suhas begins by examining Uber's journey from a luxury black car service to the more ubiquitous UberX. She highlights the challenges Uber faced, particularly from entrenched taxi industries, and the importance of navigating regulatory landscapes in different markets.  Corporate Political Strategy The conversation shifts towards corporate political strategy, emphasizing the need for businesses to assess issues comprehensively, identify pivotal policymakers, and build coalitions effectively. Suhas stresses the adaptability of such strategies across local and global markets, underscoring the significance of understanding local cultures and contexts.  Facebook's Experience in India Using Facebook's experience in India as a case study, Suhas explores the complexities of expanding into emerging markets. She discusses Facebook's initiative, internet.org, aimed at providing internet access to one of the world’s largest markets, but facing backlash due to concerns over net neutrality and a lack of cultural awareness and understanding.  Activists and Interest Groups Suhas underscores the pivotal role of activists and interest groups in shaping policy agendas and influencing corporate decisions. She illustrates this with historical examples, such as Ralph Nader's impact on automobile safety regulations, and contemporary instances, such as boycotts affecting companies like Kyte Baby.  Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) The conversation extends to CSR as a strategic imperative for businesses. Suhas explains how CSR initiatives, often driven by market demands, serve as a form of self-regulation, enabling companies to mitigate regulatory risks and enhance reputation. Suhas provides actionable insights for business leaders seeking to develop effective political strategies. She emphasizes the importance of issue identification, leveraging resources like media, lobbyists, and trade associations, and actively engaging with stakeholders to navigate complex political landscapes.  For more insights and success stories that equip you with the tools and perspectives to excel in your career, subscribe to the Goizueta Effect podcast.

Your Political Strategy (or Lack Thereof) Could Make or Break Your Business

Suhas A. Sridharan joined the Goizueta Business School faculty in 2015. She earned a PhD in business administration from Stanford University's Graduate School of Business. Her research focuses on the role of information in the price discovery process in capital markets.  Professor Sridharan's work has appeared in academic journals such as The Accounting Review, Management Science, and Review of Accounting Studies, and media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and Bloomberg News. Prior to joining Goizueta, Sridharan was a member of the faculty at the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Risk

Uncertainty

Political Economy

Financial Statement Analysis

Information and Price Discovery in Financial Markets

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Crypto Companies Have Made the Most Political Donations in 2024. Here’s What They’re Funding

When elected Georgia governor in 2018, “Brian Kemp was over $7 million in debt.”

Passive’s aggressive march poses thorny questions

ETFs Create Stock Markets That Are Both Mindless and Too Expensive, Study Says

The Downside of ETFs

Poets&Quants | 2025 Best 40-Under-40 MBA Professors: Suhas A. Sridharan, Goizueta Business School, Emory University

The Impact of Passive Investing on Market Efficiency

As the popularity of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) continues to grow at a rapid pace, the role that these basket or index-linked products play in the market is an ever-growing concern. For instance, ETFs now constitute more than 30% of the daily value traded in US exchanges. Suhas A. Sridharan, assistant professor of accounting, and coauthors Doron Israeli (Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya) and Charles M. C. Lee (Stanford U) dive into the issue by examining the impact of ETF ownership on the availability of information on individual securities and the market for those same securities. The trio analyzes a sample of 443 unique ETFs for the firm-year between 2000 and 2014. They note that ETFs are a particularly attractive investment vehicle for less informed traders. With trading costs for individual securities rising as a result of the flow to ETFs, more informed traders have less of an incentive “to expend resources to obtain firm-specific information.” As the depth and size of the ETF market grows, individual stock prices become less informative.

The rise of ETFs and market impact

This paper examines whether financial statement information can predict future realized equity volatility incremental to market-based equity volatility forecasts.

Volatility Forecasting Using Financial Statement Information

Generally speaking, financial research has studied how past equities and options volatility can help to predict future volatility in the markets. However, new research from Suhas Sridharan, assistant professor of accounting, investigates the impact of supplementing past volatility data with actual financial statement information to forecast future realized volatility. Sridharan used a large sample of 47,398 quarterly observations from 3,078 firms taken from 1996 to 2012. Her results indicate that incorporating accounting-based information, such as “standard deviation of the earnings yield, standard deviation of the change in premium of market value over book value, and the covariance of the two,” into forecasting models lowers forecast errors compared to models based solely on past realized volatility. She finds, “Equity returns volatility is significantly positively related to the earnings yield volatility and the volatility of the change in market to book premium. Volatility is significantly negatively related to the covariance of the earnings yield and change in market to book premium.” Sridharan also discovered that using accounting-based fundamental information in trading strategy could help to predict option returns.

Accounting data and volatility predictions

When you change your perspective you can change business for the better. Join us on Goizueta Effect to hear from leading faculty at the Goizueta Business School on the latest trends, research, and innovations in business, and find out how you can achieve more, do more, and create more in today’s ever-changing marketplace.

Goizueta Effect

accounting-data-and-volatility-predictions

Goizueta Term Chair Associate Professor of Accounting

Generally speaking, financial research has studied how past equities and options volatility can help to predict future volatility in the markets. However, new research from Suhas Sridharan, assistant professor of accounting, investigates the impact of supplementing past volatility data with actual financial statement information to forecast future realized volatility. Sridharan used a large sample of 47,398 quarterly observations from 3,078 firms taken from 1996 to 2012. Her results indicate that incorporating accounting-based information, such as “standard deviation of the earnings yield, standard deviation of the change in premium of market value over book value, and the covariance of the two,” into forecasting models lowers forecast errors compared to models based solely on past realized volatility. She finds, “Equity returns volatility is significantly positively related to the earnings yield volatility and the volatility of the change in market to book premium. Volatility is significantly negatively related to the covariance of the earnings yield and change in market to book premium.” Sridharan also discovered that using accounting-based fundamental information in trading strategy could help to predict option returns.

Source:  

the-rise-of-etfs-and-market-impact

As the popularity of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) continues to grow at a rapid pace, the role that these basket or index-linked products play in the market is an ever-growing concern. For instance, ETFs now constitute more than 30% of the daily value traded in US exchanges. Suhas A. Sridharan, assistant professor of accounting, and coauthors Doron Israeli (Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya) and Charles M. C. Lee (Stanford U) dive into the issue by examining the impact of ETF ownership on the availability of information on individual securities and the market for those same securities. The trio analyzes a sample of 443 unique ETFs for the firm-year between 2000 and 2014. They note that ETFs are a particularly attractive investment vehicle for less informed traders. With trading costs for individual securities rising as a result of the flow to ETFs, more informed traders have less of an incentive “to expend resources to obtain firm-specific information.” As the depth and size of the ETF market grows, individual stock prices become less informative.

Source:  

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