Public Companies Analysis

The research group intends to contribute to the field of empirical corporate finance since designs a model of value creation explaining the relationship among companiesТ intangibles, competitive advantages and the attractiveness of investment. It will be considered that managers seek to make a company competitive and attractive for investors. Investors meanwhile search for companies with a higher potential to grow in their value. These decision-making processes are complicated in conditions of incomplete information. Accounting these assumptions the results of research could be formulated as follows:

• Firstly, the theoretical model of principal agent conflict by investing in intangible resources should be elaborated.
• Secondly, we expect to develop existing methods of portfolio forming on the base of fundamental analysis by including intangibles quantity and quality.
• We also expect that investments in intangibles lead to higher stock returns. As far as intangible assets can create competitive advantage and cause an increase in company value, investors should treat investments in intangible assets as a positive signal and increase their expectations.
• Fourthly, it is expected that the disclosure of information about company's intangibles substantially decrease information asymmetry.
• We suppose to find out that some intangibles appear to be insignificant for companiesТ competitive advantages but still are perceived by shareholders as a positive signal and drive attractiveness of companies for investors.
• The investments in intangibles make company's activity and therefore its shares riskier. So, we expect that higher stock returns volatility is connected with intangible assets.
• Additionally, we suppose to justify empirically that specific features of different countries and industries affect investor perception of information on investments in intangible resources. So we will investigate environmental features and type of stock markets that perceive companiesТ investments in intellectual capital.