Consequence of compensation forms With regard to pay consequences, executive
compensation research in Asia has primarily focused on the pay level and payperformance
link as discussed above. Only a few studies have investigated the adoption
of long-term incentive plans such as stock options. For example, Kato and colleagues
(2005a) examine 644 Japanese firms from 1997 to 2001, and find that firms with
significant growth opportunities are more likely to use option-based compensation to
provide long-term incentives to mangers, while firms with high leverage are less likely
to adopt option plans to reduce the expected agency costs of debt. Furthermore, they
show evidence that firms exhibit positive cumulative abnormal stock returns of
approximately 2% around the announcements of adopting option plans, and that
operating performance improves after option adoption. This finding provides support
for the idea that stock options in Japan serve to better align the interests of managers
and shareholders. In addition, the authors suggest that firms with higher levels of
ownership by financial institutions and other corporations are less likely to adopt
option plans, as the monitoring mechanisms provided by external blockholders act as
substitutes for the incentives provided by stock options. This finding supports agency
theory, suggesting that monitoring and executive compensation may act as substitutes
for each other (Beatty & Zajac, 1994).