-
Journal menu
- General information
- Editorial Board and External Reviewers
- Journal Policies
- Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement
- Instructions for authors
- Paper reviewing
- Article processing charge
- Feedback from stakeholders
- Journal’s Open Access statement
- Order hard copies of the journal
- 50 most cited papers in the journal
Shareholder activism: A Swiss case study
Download This Article
Thomas Rautenstrauch 
, Janis Hummel
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Abstract
This article examines the phenomenon of shareholder activism using a case study methodology as a qualitative research approach. Three affected Swiss public companies have been selected on the basis of an evaluation of all corresponding reports published by Finanz und Wirtschaft (FuW). The study covers the period from 2015 to 2019. The chosen companies, Meyer Burger, GAM (Global Asset Management), and Clariant, were examined over this period. Our results show, that individual activist investors were able to generate substantial profits for themselves during the period studied, but not in a long-term and sustainable manner. Shareholder activism manifested itself in various forms and strategies within the scope of the individual cases. However, we were able to identify a general scheme of engagement for shareholder activists. Our research further shows that interests between long-term investors and management often collide when it comes to decisions about mergers and acquisitions (M&A). This results in shareholders tending to engage in shareholder activism as a countermeasure in order to enforce their demands.
Keywords: Investor Activism, Investor Influence, Shareholder Activism, Private Equity Influence, Hedge Funds Influence, Corporate Governance
Authors’ individual contribution: Conceptualization — T.R.; Methodology — T.R.; Investigation — T.R. and J.H.; Writing — Original Draft — T.R. and J.H.; Writing — Review & Editing — T.R. and J.H.; Visualization — T.R. and J.H.; Supervision — T.R.
Declaration of conflicting interests: The Authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgements: The study has been conducted within the scope of a research project funded and commissioned by the University of Applied Sciences in Business Administration Zurich (HWZ).
JEL Classification: G34, L22, M16, M21, O16
Received: 25.04.2022
Accepted: 11.07.2022
Published online: 12.07.2022
How to cite this paper: Rautenstrauch, T., & Hummel, J. (2022). Shareholder activism: A Swiss case study. Corporate Ownership & Control, 19(4), 30–41. https://doi.org/10.22495/cocv19i4art3
