Business Groups and Tax Havens

Setting up affiliated companies in tax havens is a legitimate, but ethically dubious, business practice. This study examines the conditions under which emerging business groups tend to use such a business practice. Business groups in emerging economies have been operating in weak institutional envir...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Authors: Su, Weichieh (Author) ; Tan, Danchi (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Springer Science + Business Media B. V 2018
In: Journal of business ethics
Year: 2018, Volume: 153, Issue: 4, Pages: 1067-1081
Further subjects:B Business groups
B Prosocial orientation
B Offshore companies in tax havens
B Internationalization
B Product diversification
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:Setting up affiliated companies in tax havens is a legitimate, but ethically dubious, business practice. This study examines the conditions under which emerging business groups tend to use such a business practice. Business groups in emerging economies have been operating in weak institutional environments with substantial government intervention and ineffective market-supporting institutions. Having offshore companies in tax havens enables the groups to bypass some market transaction costs and institutional constraints, and it also provides them the opportunity to evade taxes and hide illegal conduct, such as bribery. Empirical evidence based on a sample of Taiwanese business groups showed that business groups with a higher level of prosocial orientation established fewer offshore companies in tax havens, as manifested by their commitment of resources to establishing nonprofit organizations. In contrast, groups that have higher levels of product and international diversification tend to use this ethically dubious business practice. However, highly internationalized groups are less likely to do so when they have committed substantial resources to prosocial activities.
ISSN:1573-0697
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of business ethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1007/s10551-018-3910-6