Ownership as a determinant of chairperson activity: a study of Nordic listed companies

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 412-428
Author(s):  
Tor Brunzell ◽  
Jarkko Peltomäki

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to explicitly focus on the roles of ownership concentration, ownership by the board, the chief executive officer (CEO) and the chairperson in the involvement and capabilities of chairpersons and other governors in their work. Design/methodology/approach – In this study, the authors investigate the impact of the concentration of ownership, the ownership of the board, the CEO and the chairperson on the chairperson’s activity when the roles of the chairperson and the CEO are separated The empirical analysis of this study is based on a survey sent to Nordic listed firms. Findings – The results show that the ownership characteristics of a company are important in determining the chairperson’s working hours, the chairperson’s communication with the CEO and the performance of governance activity. In addition, the authors found that while the ownership of the chairperson and the board of directors and ownership concentration improve governance activity, CEO ownership may undermine governance activity. Research limitations/implications – The primary implication of the study is that both ownership by internal governors and ownership concentration play an important role in determining the involvement of internal corporate governors. Originality/value – The study provides unique evidence that ownership by the chairperson, concentrated ownership and ownership by the board can potentially mitigate the costs of separating the roles of the chairperson and the CEO.

2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 1228-1240
Author(s):  
Ghada Tayem

During the past decade, Jordan has undertaken substantial reforms aiming at restructuring its stock market in order to strengthen its role in promoting investment and allocating capital efficiently. This paper empirically investigates the impact of stock market development on capital investment at the firm level by assessing the investment-q sensitivity. In addition, this paper examines the impact of concentrated ownership, a salient institutional feature of listed Jordanian companies, on the investment-q sensitivity. The findings of this study indicate that investments by Jordanian firms respond significantly and positively to market signals. Furthermore, the results show that a company responds more efficiently to market signals as ownership concentration increases, which suggests that large ownership stakes align the interests of large shareholders with those of the firm.


2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 150-168
Author(s):  
Etumudon Ndidi Asien

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the impact of firm-specific characteristics on managers’ identity disclosure in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. Design/methodology/approach – Research data were collected from 2010 annual reports and financial statements of 403 listed firms in the GCC countries. The data were analyzed by multiple regression models. Findings – Evidence suggesting that managers’ identity is significantly disclosed by firms that separate the office of chairman from that of chief executive officer was documented. It was also found that mature firms significantly disclose their managers’ identity. Our finding suggests that firms’ declaration that they comply with a set of corporate governance code leads them to disclose managers’ identity. However, we find that firms that are related to the state significantly disclose their managers’ identity, contrary to expectation. Research limitations/implications – One limitation is the lack of a uniform classification of industries by the stock exchanges in the GCC region. The implication of this is that researchers are lacking a uniform standard to apply in their research. Another limitation is the use of only 2010 annual reports and accounts; thus, there is a problem of inter-temporal generalizability. As markets in the GCC countries are evolving, it will be interesting to capture the state of managers’ identity disclosure after 2010. Practical implications – The paper has the potential to influence firms in the GCC region to begin disclosing managers’ personal details and other contact information. In addition, there is the prospect that market regulators in the GCC region and other emerging markets who may read this research may now require firms to disclose their managers’ identity. Originality/value – This is an Original research paper.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 706-732 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kun Su ◽  
Bin Li ◽  
Chen Ma

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of corporate dispersion on tax avoidance from geographical and institutional dispersion perspectives by using evidence from China. Design/methodology/approach Using a panel data of Chinese listed firms during 2003-2015, this paper estimates with correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis. Findings Both geographical and institutional dispersion are negatively associated with the degree of corporate tax avoidance. Furthermore, corporate governance mechanisms and female chief executive officers can mitigate the negative relation between corporate dispersion and tax avoidance. The results also indicate that ineffective internal control is one of the channels through which corporate dispersion reduces tax avoidance. Originality/value This is the first paper about the impact of firm dispersion on the degree of tax avoidance, complementing the research content of diversification and corporate decision-making.


2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 113-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zahid Irshad Younas ◽  
Christian Klein ◽  
Bernhard Zwergel

Concentrated ownership has been speculated to play a direct role in leading firms to focus more on long-term sustainability. Concentrated ownership, however, can take many different forms, with some forms more common in certain countries, and we posit that the specific form of ownership mediates the impact on sustainability. Additionally, we posit that firms operating at different scales have fundamentally different characteristics which can further impact this relationship. Analyzing a sample of firms from the USA, UK, and Germany using Arellano- Bond GMM, we investigate the relationship between ownership concentration, firm growth and sustainability measures comparatively. Our results show that these relationships are not linear, but are rather dependent on the prevalent form of ownership concentration (determined by country) and the scale (small, medium or large) of the firm. Approaches to sustainability appear to be influenced by not just the owners / investors but also by the type of control and broader contexts, explaining differing national trends.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdul Waheed ◽  
Qaisar Ali Malik

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to extend the understanding and application of interactive ties creating value through board characteristics, ownership concentration and firms’ performance by using a contingent theoretical-based framework based on the amalgamation of resource dependence theory, stakeholder theory, agency theory, stewardship theory and institutional theory in a country with weak political environment. Design/methodology/approach This study includes a sample of an unbalanced panel of 309 non-financial sector firms listed on Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) from 2005 to 2016. In order to address the issue of unobserved heterogeneity, simultaneous and dynamic endogeneity, the current study employed the technique Arellano–Bond dynamic panel data estimation under assumptions of GMM (Arellano–Bond, 1991). Findings The empirical results suggest that the presence of concentrated ownership moderates and helps to overcome the agency problems through different governance mechanisms (such as board size, independent directors and CEO duality). The larger boards are found to be beneficial whereas the higher representation of independent directors in the board is found to be detrimental for Pakistani firms. Research limitations/implications Limitations of the study are, first the current study has analyzed public-listed firms from the non-financial sector, and second the study has only focused on the financial aspect of the performance. The future research could include other proxies of corporate governance and ownership structure such as board diversity and meetings, audit committee and managerial ownership, etc. Practical implications The research also helps Pakistani policy makers in numerous ways. First, the current study confirms the monitoring and expropriation effect of ownership concentration in corporate governance and performance mechanism. Thus, the Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) should make such policies which protect the corporate board against the influence of concentrated ownership so that the interests of the minority shareholders are protected. Second, SECP should ensure that all the listed firms declare a comprehensive profile of their directors (such as academic qualification, age and experience) in their annual reports for the better understanding of the governance−performance mechanism. Originality/value The current study augments the emerging body of literature on corporate governance and firm performance mechanism through the amalgamation and testing of existing theories in an emerging economy like Pakistan by using wider and newer data set.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Manali Chatterjee ◽  
Titas Bhattacharjee

PurposeThis study aims to understand the influence of R&D intensity and ownership concentration on performance of Indian technology SMEs, at the intersection of “value creation” perspective of corporate governance and country cultural context in innovation.Design/methodology/approachCross-sectional data of 264 Indian technology SMEs have been employed to probe the impact of ownership and R&D intensity on market performance of the technology SMEs.FindingsThis study does not find support of individual influence of R&D intensity on SME performance. The authors find support for the “value creation” hypothesis of corporate governance in Indian technology SME context. This study finds that interaction of promoter's ownership concentration and R&D intensity has a positive influence on the performance of Indian technology SMEs.Research limitations/implicationsThis study has deployed cross-sectional data. Future studies can examine the “value creation” hypothesis based on panel data for a long-run understanding. Ownership can be further segregated into different categories of ownership in future studies.Practical implicationsThis study underscores on distinct necessity in the concentrated ownership in the context of Indian technology SMEs. The findings of the study may encourage policymakers to focus on the “value creation” of the technology SMEs than “value protection.”Originality/valueThis study aims to understand the market value of R&D practice of SMEs. The findings of this study establish that R&D intensity individually may not have any significant influence on SME performance. R&D intensity coupled with concentrated ownership can significantly increase SME performance. Thus, this study identifies factors that can help in SME innovation and growth options. Additionally, this study advocates for the fact concentrated ownership in technology SMEs of India by establishing the link with SME performance.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Sofia Gomes Mariano ◽  
Javad Izadi ◽  
Maurice Pratt

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of corporate governance structures on the likelihood of financial distress in UK listed companies. The paper examines the impact of borrowing and corporate governance structures on financial distress likelihood in UK companies. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a quantitative approach with financial, governance and borrowing measures and data from 270 firm-observations between 2010 and 2018. The study analyses the impact of borrowing and corporate governance structures to indicate financial distress likelihood in British companies. Corporate governance variables such as ownership concentration, independence indicators, chief executive officer duality, director remuneration and corporate loans are considered, as well as the UK Corporate Governance Code. Findings The results indicate that companies with low ownership concentration and a low degree of independence are more likely to incur financial distress. Larger boards and better director remuneration can reduce financial distress likelihood and the existence of corporate loans can increase this likelihood. Empirical consideration of corporate borrowing is a new contribution to the literature. Originality/value Variables are highlighted and aggregated that have not otherwise been studied together; the UK Corporate Governance Code’s main ideas are empirically supported; the study is useful for defining corporate governance structure strategies.


2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 598-618 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Padilla-Angulo ◽  
Faten Ben Slimane

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study corporate governance restructuring strategies of companies to adapt to new market conditions following conversion into a for-profit structure. It focuses on the changes in the composition of the board of directors. Design/methodology/approach The paper conducts a field experiment using stock exchanges, which have become more international over time, and many of which have been forced to demutualize and convert to for-profit structures to compete more efficiently. The paper does a fine-grained analysis of restructuring in the composition of the board using the ANOVA technique. The paper also examines the impact of this board composition restructuring on the reputation of the exchanges using a regression technique. Findings The authors find that the stock exchanges restructured board composition and refocused them to create better value. Results suggest that the conversion of a company to a for-profit structure brings efficiencies when accompanied by changes in the governing bodies. The authors also find that converting to for-profit firms had a positive impact on the reputation of the exchanges. The positive impact was even greater when accompanied by changes in board composition. Research limitations/implications A stronger focus on the corporate governance dimension to understand the successful demutualization of stock exchanges is needed. Originality/value The authors analyze the corporate governance dimension during demutualization processes of an under examined sector. The financial performance of the stock exchanges the authors study significantly improved after their conversion to for-profit organizations and provide an example of successful corporate governance restructuring.


2005 ◽  
pp. 53-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Kapeliushnikov ◽  
N. Demina

The paper provides new survey evidence on effects of concentrated ownership upon investment and performance in Russian industrial enterprises. Authors trace major changes in their ownership profile, assess pace of post-privatization redistribution of shareholdings and provide evidence on ownership concentration in the Russian industry. The major econometric findings are that the first largest shareholding is negatively associated with the firm’s investment and performance but surprisingly the second largest shareholding is positively associated with them. Moreover, these relationships do not depend on identity of majority shareholders. These results are consistent with the assumption that the entrenched controlling owners are engaged in extracting "control premium" but sizable shareholdings accumulated by other blockholders may put brakes on their expropriating behavior and thus be conductive for efficiency enhancing. The most interesting topic for further more detailed analysis is formation, stability and roles of coalitions of large blockholders in the corporate sector of post-socialist countries.


2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 935-964 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neha Smriti ◽  
Niladri Das

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of intellectual capital (IC) on financial performance (FP) for Indian companies listed on the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy Overall Share Price Index (COSPI). Design/methodology/approach Hypotheses were developed according to theories and literature review. Secondary data were collected from Indian companies listed on the COSPI between 2001 and 2016, and the value-added intellectual coefficient (VAIC) of Pulic (2000) was used to measure IC and its components. A dynamic system generalized method of moments (SGMM) estimator was employed to identify the variables that significantly contribute to firm performance. Findings Indian listed firms appear to be performing well and efficiently utilizing their IC. Overall, human capital had a major impact on firm productivity during the study period. Furthermore, the empirical analysis showed that structural capital efficiency and capital employed efficiency were equally important contributors to firm’s sales growth and market value. The growing importance of the contribution of IC to value creation was consistently reflected in the FP of these Indian companies. Practical implications This study has robust theoretical grounds and employs a validated methodology. The present study extends knowledge of IC among academicians and managers and highlights its contribution to value creation. The findings may help stakeholders and policymakers in developing countries properly reallocate intellectual resources. Originality/value This study is the first study to evaluate IC and its relationship with traditional measures of firm performance among Indian listed firms using dynamic SGMM and VAIC models.


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