• The value effect of sustainability: evidence from Latin American ESG bond market.  We use the event study  methodology to examine the effect of 115 environmental, social, and governance (ESG) bond issuances on the stock price of Latin American listed firms over the period 2016-2022. Consistent with the signaling theory, firms sending a signal of commitment to sustainability obtain a positive and significant average Cumulative Abnormal return (CAR) of 1.97% during an event window of 18 days.

• Determinants of corporate tone in an initial public offering: Powerful CEOs versus well-functioning boards:  This study concentrates on the factors that shape the tone of the information disclosed in IPOs. Sampling 211 Latin American IPOs during the period 2000–2019, we find empirical evidence that a powerful CEO can influence tone, avoiding unfavorable tone and fostering the use of positive words in the information disclosed to the market.

• What you say and how you say it: Information disclosure in Latin American firms: In this paper, we construct an Information Disclosure Index (IDI) for a sample of 454 firms in the six largest Latin America countries. We look at 4.622 company reports and show that firms with better disclosure practices have better market valuation (Tobin’s Q) and better accounting financial performance (return on equity, ROE).

• Signaling Value through Gender Diversity: Evidence from Initial Coin Offerings: Using a database featuring 875 initial coin offerings between 2017 and 2019, we analyze women’s participation and the effects of team gender diversity on initial coin offering (ICO) success measured by the total funding amount raised in the actual ICO and the project’s long-term survival.

• Corporate and Family Governance: Analyzing corporate governance’s relevance in the expansion of multi-family companies, based on a case study: This article analyzes the case of Franquicias Americanas (FA) a Colombian multifamily company in a stage of accelerated growth, arguing that a company with high potential may experience difficulty consolidating its business model, and put its viability at risk, due to the absence of good corporate and family governance practices.

• The effectiveness of corporate governance hybrid models in emerging markets: The case of the Issuer Recognition program: In this paper, we show that hybrid models, such as the innovative Colombian’s IR, might serve as a solution for the effective implementation of good corporate governance practices at the country level.

• Attention to Global Warming and the Success of Environmental Initial Coin Offerings: Empirical Evidence: Using a database featuring 324 environmental initial coin offerings between 2017 and 2019, we analyze the effects of attention to global warming on the success of environmental initial coin offerings (ICOs) measured by the total funding amount raised in the actual ICOs and the long-term survival of the projects.

• The impact of governance on IPO underpricing and performance at the country and corporate level: literature review and research directions:  We update and review the current literature on IPO underpricing and performance, stressing the link with corporate governance at the country and firm-level. We focus on the separation between ownership and control and the signaling that firms’ governance structure could send to the IPO market.

• How institutional development news moves an emerging market: Major moves in Colombia’s stock market in the 2000s correspond to major news of progress or setbacks in rebuilding the country’s institutions, shattered by widespread guerrilla insurgencies in the 1990s. This contrasts with prior work reporting no news on major market moves in the US, a country with comparatively stable institutions. Colombian economy-level news during the institutional rebuilding phase may have been exceptionally economically significant.

• Governance, sentiment analysis, and initial public offering underpricing: What is the relationship between governance, tone in language, ¿and underpricing of initial public offerings (IPOs) in Latin America? We find a positive (negative) and statistically significant relationship between board size (board independence) and IPO underpricing at the time firms go public.

• Is board turnover driven by performance in family firms?: Using a sample of Colombian companies, we study director turnover as a corporate governance mechanism in family firms; specifically, the effect that family involvement in management, ownership, and control has on director turnover (direct effect) and on director turnover-performance sensitivity (moderating effect).

• Does gender really matter in the boardroom? Evidence from closely held family firms: In this study, using a unique hand-collected sample of 523 closely held Colombian family firms and 5.094 firm-year observations, with 4907 board members, including 833 female board members, we show that female directors have a negative effect on firm performance.

• A purposeful review of public policy for the improvement of governance in Colombia’s HEIs: Higher Education Institutions’ (HEIs) governance practices have been the subject of much debate this past decade. Within the framework of this debate, the National Higher Education Council established the public policy for the improvement of HEIs’ governance in November 2017. This article undertakes a critical analysis of that public policy and suggests new aspects to the National Education Ministry.

• What Are Boards For? Evidence from Closely Held Firms in Colombia: Using a large survey database on the corporate governance practices of privately held Colombian firms, we investigate why firms have boards, and how that choice and the balance of power among the board, controlling shareholders, and minority shareholders affect the trade-offs between control, liquidity, and growth and, ultimately, firm performance.

• Who controls the board in non-profit organizations? The case of private higher education institutions in Colombia: We examine the case of private higher education institutions (HEIs) in Colombia and the balance of power in university governance systems which feature this organizational form. Most HEIs in our sample have a kind of assembly of representatives as the governance body with the highest authority and able to appoint and control the board.

• Determinantes of successful internationalisation processes in business schools  We analyse the internationalisation process in business schools as a response to the globalisation phenomena and argue that environmental pressures, isomorphic forces, the pool of internal resources and the alignment of the process with the institution’s general strategic plan are the main determinants of a successful internationalisation process.

• The Role of Family Involvement on CEO Turnover: Evidence from Colombian Family Firms We analyze CEO turnover in closely held firms with some level of ownership dispersion in a context of low investor protection. In particular, we examine the impact of family involvement on CEO turnover and CEO turnover/performance sensitivity.

• Governance of Family Firms: We review what the financial economics literature has to say about the unique ways in which the following three classic agency problems manifest themselves in family firms: (a) shareholders versus managers, (b) controlling (family) shareholders versus noncontrolling shareholders, and (c) shareholders versus creditors. We also call attention to a fourth agency problem that is unique to family firms: the conflict of interest between family shareholders and the family at large.

• Corporate governance practices in the general shareholders meetings of listed companies in Colombia: Este estudio analiza las Asambleas Generales de Accionistas (AGA) bajo el enfoque de gobierno corporativo, caracterizando las asambleas del año 2012 de once empresas colombianas que representan un poco más del 50% del COLCAP.

• Family Involvement and Dividend Policy in Closely Held Firms: This article examines the effects of family involvement on dividend policy in closely held firms that face agency problems involving majority–minority shareholders. We argue that minority shareholders press for dividends when they perceive situations fostering wealth expropriation.

• Internet-based corporate disclosure and market value: Evidence from Latin America: We examine the relationship between an Internet-based corporate disclosure index and firm value in the seven largest stock markets of Latin America. The evidence contributes to the literature suggesting that firms can differentiate themselves by self-adopting better financial and corporate disclosure measures using the Internet.

• Family firms and debt: Risk aversion versus risk of losing control: This study examines the effect of family management, ownership, and control on capital structure for 523 Colombian firms between 1996 and 2006. The study finds that debt levels tend to be lower for younger firms when the founder or one of his heirs acts as manager, but trends higher as the firm ages.

• Family firms and financial performance: The cost of growing: This study examines the relationship between financial performance and family involvement for 523 listed and non-listed Colombian firms over 1996–2006. Using a detailed database and performing several panel data regression models, we find that family firms exhibit better financial performance on average than non-family firms when the founder is still involved in operations, although this effect decreases with firm size.

• Family business literature review: A financial perspective : In this article we facilitate theoretical integration by reviewing the family business literature from a financial perspective, amassing more than 30 years of advances to offer a comprehensive research agenda from this financial perspective.

• Research-related incentive policies: A critical review with contract theory This article aims to highlight the value of contract theory for understanding research-related incentive policies in Colombian higher education institutions, reviewing the main theoretical contributions regarding moral hazards and discussing research-related incentive policies within this theoretical framework.

• Family businesses: A review of the literature from an agency perspective: This article presents a comprehensive review of the financial literature around the main studies of family businesses. The review, made from the agency theory perspective, frames the family ownership structure within the main agency problems that arise between owners and managers, debt holders and managers, and minority and majority shareholders.

• The role of heirs in family businesses: The case of Carvajal: We use Carvajal, a large Colombian business group, to support our ideas and show that, contrary to international empirical evidence, there are certain circumstances where efforts made by heirs can be similar to those of the founder and exceed those of outside manager.