Conference on Concentrated Ownership.

• Position: Conference of the National Bureau of Economic Research

The NBER held a Conference on Concentrated Ownership in Banff, Alberta, Canada on May 30-June 1. Randall K. Morck of the University of Alberta organized the conference, which featured the following presentations:

Paul A. Gompers and Joshua Lerner, NBER and Harvard University, "Corporate Venture Capital: Organizational Structure, Complementarities, and Success"

Discussant: Michael Weisbach, University of Arizona

Lucian A. Bebchuk, NBER and Harvard University, and Marcel Kahan, New York University School of Law, "The 'Lemons' Effect in Corporate Freeze-Outs"

Discussant: Paul G. Mahoney, University of Virginia

Krishna Palepu and Tarun Khanna, Harvard University, "The Relation Between Performance and Ownership in Emerging Markets: An Empirical Analysis of Indian Business Groups"

Discussant: Bernard Yeung, University of Michigan

Paul G. Mahoney, "Trust and Opportunism in Close Corporations"

Discussant: Larry Y. Dann, University of Oregon

Robert D. Brown, Price Waterhouse, and Jack M. Mintz and Thomas A. Wilson, University of Toronto, "Corporations and Taxation: A Private Matter"

Discussant: Daniel R. Feenberg, NBER

Randall K. Morck, David A. Stangeland, University of Manitoba, and Bernard Yeung, "Concentrated Ownership and the National Economy"

Discussant: David Levy, George Mason University

Clifford G. Holderness, Boston College, and Dennis P. Sheehan, Pennsylvania State University, "Constraints on Large-Block Shareholders"

Discussant: Mark Huson, University of Alberta

Lucian A. Bebchuk, Reinier Kraakman, Harvard University, and George Triantis, University of Virginia, "Stock Pyramids, Cross Ownership, Dual Class Equity, and Leverage: An Analysis of Alternative Arrangements for Separating Control from Cash Flow Rights"

Discussant: Dennis P Sheehan

Ronald J. Daniels, University of Toronto, and Edward M. Iacobucci, University of Virginia, "Some of the Causes and Consequences of Corporate Ownership in Canada"

Discussant: George Triantis

Gompers and Lerner examine a sample of more than 30,000 transactions by corporate venture capital organizations and other venture capital groups. They find that the corporate investments in entrepreneurial firms are at least as successful (using such measures as the probability of the portfolio firm going public) as those backed by independent organizations, particularly when there is a strategic overlap between the corporate parent and the portfolio firm. Corporate programs without a strong strategic focus appear...