Market reactions to proxy advisory companies’ recommendations in Japan

This study investigates how proxy advisory companies’ recommendations affect the stock prices of target companies in Japan, whose governance system has been under transition from relationship-based to more market-based. Based on 125 voting recommendations reported in newspapers between 2003 and 2022, we find that stock prices respond to recommendations inconsistent with the board's policy more largely than to those consistent. The market reactions become larger when firms are smaller and/or have a higher shareholding ratio of foreign investors, when recommendations are against takeover defense measures, and when the firms’ name attracts investor attention.