Douglas Cumming, the internationally renowned scholar in the field of finance and entrepreneurship, is well-known in the academic community for his pioneering research in venture capital, private equity, and innovation policy. He is currently the DeSantis Distinguished Professor of Finance and Entrepreneurship at Florida Atlantic University, and is also a visiting professor at the University of Birmingham in the UK and a researcher at the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI). Professor Cumming has published more than 280 academic papers, which have been widely published in top FT international journals such as Journal of Business Venturing, Journal of International Business Studies, and Journal of Business Ethics. His research results have been cited more than 29,000 times on Google Scholar, fully demonstrating the breadth and depth of his academic influence. In 2023, he was ranked as the No. 1 scholar in the field of finance in the United States, and was named a highly cited scholar by Clarivate in 2022. In 2019, he was awarded the Silver Medal for his multiple substantive contributions to the Journal of International Business Studies. In addition, he has been invited to participate in 191 international authoritative academic conferences such as "FMA", "IEFS", and "EBES", and made 72 high-quality academic reports, including 20 keynote speeches. Professor Cumming not only enjoys a high reputation in the academic community, but also actively participates in professional services and consulting, providing professional consulting on financial market supervision to regulators in North America, Europe and Australia, and providing expert advice to the Canadian Revenue Agency. He is also the editor-in-chief, deputy editor-in-chief and guest editor of 21 internationally renowned journals such as "Journal of Corporate Finance" and "Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions & Money". His research results have won a number of research grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), Paolo Baffi Central Bank and Financial Regulation Center, AEI Brookings Institution, SWIFT Institute, etc., with a total amount of more than $250,420. In the RePEc ranking, Professor Cumming was listed as the top 5% of authors in the world, and this honor further proves his important position in the academic community. Professor Cumming's research results, especially in the fields of equity crowdfunding and government venture capital, provide scientific theoretical support for the theoretical and industrial circles to understand and apply these financing methods. His research not only has important theoretical value and has a significant impact in the academic community, but also has practical guiding value for the transformation and upgrading of modern industries.

Title: An International Analysis of Procurement Decisions and Firm Value. European Corporate Governance Institute

Abstract

 We examine whether political connections influence public procurement award decisions made by government bodies worldwide. We find that politically connected firms are more likely to receive government contracts and larger value contracts. Focusing on defense contracts, where the strength of politically connected social ties can be more directly assessed, we find that employing former military personnel from the contract-awarding country in management increases the value of awarded contracts by around 40%. This effect is more pronounced with high-ranking ex-military personnel (88% increase) compared to lower-ranking ones (26% increase). Moreover, our analysis reveals that political connections have a stronger impact on government contracting for foreign-incorporated firms (54% increase in contract value) than on domestic firms (29% increase). Financial and institutional development significantly moderate the effects of political connections. We also observe that politically connected government contracting positively impacts firm value in less developed countries but negatively in more developed ones. Furthermore, the effect on firm value is stronger for foreign contractors than local ones. Lastly, our study demonstrates that politically connected government contracting distorts firms’ capital allocation efficiency, particularly for local contractors in developed countries. Our main findings remain robust across various variable definitions, estimation techniques, and adjustments for potential endogeneity