Earnings Pressure and Corporate Product Refocus
研究发现盈利压力能促使管理者聚焦核心产品、减少非核心投资，从而提升企业价值，尤其对代理问题严重的企业效果更明显。
ABSTRACT Facing pressure to meet short-term earnings expectations, corporate managers often take actions that are perceived as value-destroying. Our study provides empirical evidence supporting an alternative view: earnings pressure can discipline managers to undertake value-enhancing actions by refocusing on the firm’s core products. Consistent with this product refocus hypothesis, we find that firms under earnings pressure reduce investment in non-core products, leading to the subsequent underperformance of these non-core products, whereas the performance of core products remains unaffected. As predicted, product refocus is stronger when managers exhibit ex ante high-level agency problems. To strengthen identification, we exploit shocks arising from analyst brokerage mergers and closures. Our study suggests a bright side of earnings pressure—it helps reduce agency-motivated product diversification. JEL Classifications: G10; M11; M41.