The impact of legal and financial corporate location choices on company performance across developing and developed markets

Abstract

This report examines the effect that the legal and financial corporate location choices made by corporations have on company performance. These corporate location choices are investigated for stand-alone companies, and for companies that form part of Multinational Enterprises (MNEs). A further distinction is drawn between companies that hail from developed and developing markets. The study examines data from the perspective of the company, and uses 4,308 listed companies found in the following sectors on Bloomberg, namely: Mining, General Retailers, Telecommunications, and Pharmaceuticals, and finds evidence that both the legal and financial home chosen by a company has a significant impact on company performance, and that distributing legal and financial homes opportunistically amongst developed and developing markets lead to markedly improved company performance. The research finds that generally MNEs outperform national companies; companies with a corporate function located in a developed market outperform companies with corporate functions located in developing markets, and lastly that increased corporate function dispersion is associated with increased performance, with the bulk of the benefit delivered by opportunistically location the legal home in a developed market.