TY - JOUR AU - Levine,Ross AU - Schmukler,Sergio L. TI - Internationalization and the Evolution of Corporate Valuation JF - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series VL - No. 11023 PY - 2005 Y2 - January 2005 UR - http://www.nber.org/papers/w11023 L1 - http://www.nber.org/papers/w11023.pdf N1 - Author contact info: Ross Levine Haas School of Business University of California at Berkeley 545 Student Services Building, #1900 (F685) Berkeley, CA 94720-1900 Tel: 510-643-1419 E-Mail: Ross_levine@haas.berkeley.edu Sergio Schmukler The World Bank MSN MC3-301 1818 H Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20433 Tel: 202-458-4167 Fax: 202-522-3518 E-Mail: Sschmukler@worldbank.org AB - By documenting the evolution of Tobin's "q" before, during, and after firms internationalize, this paper provides evidence on the bonding, segmentation, and market timing theories of internationalization. Using new data on 9,096 firms across 74 countries over the period 1989-2000, we find that Tobin's "q" does not rise after internationalization, even relative to firms that do not internationalize. Instead, "q" rises significantly one year before internationalization and during the internationalization year. But, then "q" falls sharply in the year after internationalization, relinquishing the increases of the previous two years. To account for these dynamics, we show that market capitalization rises one year before internationalization and remains high, while corporate assets increase during internationalization. The evidence supports models stressing that internationalization facilitates corporate expansion, but challenges models stressing that internationalization produces an enduring effect on "q" by bonding firms to a better corporate governance system. ER -