scholarly journals Family Management, Family Ownership, and Downsizing: Evidence from S&P 500 Firms

2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jörn Block

Little is known about the relationship between family firms and downsizing. This study aims to close this gap. The study distinguishes between family management and family ownership as two distinct dimensions of family firms and analyzes their respective influences on downsizing. The findings suggest that the extent of family ownership decreases the likelihood of deep job cuts, whereas family management has no impact. However, family management is found to moderate the relationship between firm profitability and the likelihood of downsizing. It is suggested that family owners care more about their reputation for social responsibility than do other owners, motivating them to avoid deep job cuts.

2017 ◽  
Vol 59 (5) ◽  
pp. 699-717 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Rathish Bhatt ◽  
Sujoy Bhattacharya

Purpose Given the prevalence of family-run businesses in India, this paper aims to empirically investigate the impact of family firms on the relationship between firm performance and board characteristics. The effectiveness of board characteristics such as independent directors, chairman independence, role duality, non-executive directors, board busyness, board size, board meetings and board attendance are studied in the Indian context. Design/methodology/approach The sample consists of top-listed firms in India for the period 2002 to 2012. Board index was constructed to capture the governance quality of the firm. The authors also study the relationship between board structure and firm performance by segregating the sample based on family management, family ownership and family representative directors. Random effects model was used for the regression analysis in the study. Findings The authors find a negative effect of board structure on firm performance in family firms compared to non-family firms. Contrary to the most Western literature, family management was not found to significantly affect firm performance as compared to that of professionally managed firms. In the subset analysis of family firms, higher proportion of family ownership and family representative directors did not show any significant impact on the firm performance. Having a higher proportion of independent directors, larger board size or an independent chairman does not appear to improve this insignificant relationship between family firms and firm performance. Also, in family firms, no significant difference in performance is noticed before and during recession period. Originality/value The study uses a self-defined corporate governance index to measure the governance parameters, specifically the board characteristics. The results documented in this study adds to the debate on the generalizability of the findings in Western governance studies in emerging markets like India with unique institutional development background.


Think India ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 10-19
Author(s):  
Ang Bao

The objective of this paper is to find the relationship between family firms’ CSR engagement and their non-family member employees’ organisational identification. Drawing upon the existing literature on social identity theory, corporate social responsibility and family firms, the author proposes that family firms engage actively in CSR programs in a balanced manner to increase non-family member employees’ organisational identification. The findings of the research suggest that by developing and implementing balanced CSR programs, and actively getting engaged in CSR activities, family firms may help their non-family member employees better identify themselves with the firms. The article points out that due to unbalanced CSR resource allocation, family firms face the problem of inefficient CSR program implementation, and are suggested to switch alternatively to an improved scheme. Family firms may be advised to take corresponding steps to select right employees, communicate better with non-family member employees, use resources better and handle firms’ succession problems efficiently. The paper extends employees’ identification and CSR research into the family firm research domain and points out some drawbacks in family firms’ CSR resource allocation while formerly were seldom noticed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Asif Saeed ◽  
Aijaz Mustafa Hashmi ◽  
Attiya Yasmin Javid

This study aims to explore the impact of family ownership on the relationship among corporate social responsibility (CSR) and earning management (EM) in Pakistan. Data is collected from nonfinancial listed firms on Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSE) for the period 2009-2017. Our results of pooled ordinary least square regression indicate that CSR has significant negative impact on EM. Furthermore, results also indicate that association between CSR and EM is moderated by family ownership. Family firms which perform CSR activities are less involved in EM as compare to nonfamily firms perform CSR activities. This variation in behavior of EM in family and non-family firms can possibly be explained by socioemotional wealth theory. Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility, Earnings Management, Family Ownership


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Feng Dong ◽  
Xiao Wang ◽  
Jiawen Chen

Purpose This study aims to investigate the impact of family ownership on cooperative research and development (R&D). Drawing on the ability and willingness paradox framework in family business research, the authors suggest that family ownership influences cooperative R&D via two opposing mechanisms: power concentration and wealth concentration. It also deepens the current understanding of the boundary conditions of informal institutions for the impact of family ownership on cooperative R&D by investigating the moderating role of political ties. Design/methodology/approach The authors analyze a panel of 610 Chinese manufacturing family firms and 2,127 firm-year observations from 2009 to 2017. Fixed effects regression analysis is used to test the hypotheses, with the two-stage Heckman model to address sample selection bias. Findings The research findings indicate that family ownership has an inverted U-shaped relationship with cooperative R&D and political ties moderate the relationship in such a way that the inverted U-shaped relationship will be steeper in firms with more political ties than in firms with fewer political ties. Practical implications Family ownership influences firms’ cooperative R&D through the positive effect of power concentration and the negative effect of wealth concentration. Family owners should, therefore, take advantage of concentrated power, for instance, by adapting quickly and committing sufficient resources to cooperative R&D opportunities, while controlling path-dependent relationship development caused by concentrated family wealth. The effect of political ties on the relationship between family ownership and cooperative R&D is found to be a double-edged sword. Originality/value This study extends the ability and willingness paradox framework and provides novel insights into cooperative R&D in family businesses by integrating power concentration and wealth concentration associated with family ownership. Moreover, this study provides a contingency perspective and introduces the moderating role of political ties in shaping cooperative R&D in family firms.


Author(s):  
María J. Martínez-Romero ◽  
Rubén Martínez-Alonso ◽  
M. Pilar Casado-Belmonte ◽  
Alfonso A. Rojo-Ramírez

The aim of this chapter is to analyze the moderating effect of family management on the relationship between R&D inputs and R&D outcomes, that is, R&D productivity. Using a longitudinal sample of 337 Spanish privately held manufacturing firms, the results show that in general terms, although family managed firms invest less in R&D than their non-family managed counterparts, they reinforce the conversion of R&D inputs into R&D outcomes. Moreover, the findings reveal that the strengthening effect of family management on R&D productivity is contingent upon the level of R&D expenditures. Thus, this chapter contributes to shedding some light into the debate regarding innovation management in privately held family firms.


Author(s):  
María Iborra ◽  
Vicente Safón ◽  
Consuelo Dolz

The latest global economic and financial crisis has been a litmus test for companies, especially for SMEs. These companies have had to demonstrate their ability to be resilient, surviving first and then recovering. This chapter studies the role of family ownership in the survival and recovery of SMEs during a stressful event. From a perspective based on the complementarity or substitutability of goals that family firms pursue, the authors propose that family ownership has a positive effect on survival but a negative effect on recovery. Furthermore, they propose that the risk of bankruptcy before a crisis moderates the relationship between family ownership and survival. Hypotheses have been tested with a dataset of 3,133 Spanish manufacturing MEs finding evidence for the positive role of family ownership in survival and for the moderating effect of previous bankruptcy risk. The empirical data confirms good news for family-owned firms.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iman Harymawan ◽  
Mohammad Nasih ◽  
Muhammad Madyan ◽  
Diarany Sucahyati

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship of firms with family ownership and their performance in Indonesia and further examine on how political connections affect this relationship. This study used 933 samples from 413 companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) in the period between 2014 and 2016. Using ordinary least square (OLS) regression, the results shows that firms without family ownership (non-family firms) have better performance than firms with family ownership (family firms) in Indonesia. Furthermore, the findings also show that the performance of family firms significantly improve when the firms are affiliated with political connections. Our findings imply that establishing political connections in family firms will increase the performance of the firms.


2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 349-361
Author(s):  
Lakshmi Kalyanaraman

We study 288 family firms included in the NSE CNX 500 index of the National Stock Exchange of India. We find an entrenchment-alignment-entrenchment relationship between family ownership and firm value. We show that family CEO has a negative moderating effect on the relationship between family ownership and firm value. When the interaction effect of Family CEO on family ownership is controlled, only family shareholding in the alignment range is found to be statistically significant. The study shows that family firms with family CEO suffer from a decrease in market valuation. This finding is extremely valuable given the fact that India is dominated by family firms and majority of family firms appoint a family member as CEO


2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 111-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shihwei Wu ◽  
Fengyi Lin ◽  
Chiaming Wu

This study develops several models to examine the relationship between the corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the ownership structure of Taiwanese firms. Our results suggest that firms which are controlled by professional managers, government-owned, or collectively-owned would like to undertake serious efforts to integrate the CSR into various aspects of their companies. Due to Asia firm’s culture, family firms might be more reluctant to put efforts on CSR activities. We also report that there is a positive relationship between (a) the CSR and financial performance and (b) the CSR and earnings quality. This study suggests that the ownership structures are found to have effects on the CSR and the CSR could also decrease the information asymmetry between managers and investors.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Fayyaz Sheikh ◽  
Aamir Inam Bhutta ◽  
Bareera Rehman ◽  
Muhammad Bazil ◽  
Ali Hassan

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) affects dividend policy (the propensity to pay dividends as well as the dividend payout ratio) and what role family ownership plays in this regard in an emerging market.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses a sample of 1,480 observations from Pakistan for the period 2010–2016 and accounts for Hackman self-selection bias and endogeneity issues using a robust regression analysis. CSR activity is measured by CSR score developed through a content analysis of firms' annual reports.FindingsThe study finds that the greater number of CSR activities increases the propensity to pay dividends, but reduces the dividend payout in dividend-paying firms. On the other hand, in family firms, the greater number CSR activities decreases the propensity to pay dividends, but increases the dividend payout in dividend-paying firms. The findings hold for a series of robustness and sensitivity checks, for example, alternative measures, specifications and estimators.Practical implicationsA trade-off between firms' CSR activities and dividend policy needs to be the point of concern for investors, minority shareholders and policy makers. The role of the non-executive and independent directors becomes more important, especially in the family firms where family members sitting on the boards may drive CSR activities in their own interests opportunistically. The potential opportunistic behaviour of family members warrants the need for policy reform initiatives to strengthen the protection of other stakeholders' interests.Originality/valueThe study highlights that family owners' efforts to preserve their socio-emotional wealth in family firms affect the relationship between CSR activities and dividend policy. Further, the relationship between CSR and dividend policy in emerging markets is different from developed markets. This study simultaneously focuses on both the propensity to pay dividends and the amount of dividend payment and documents that the implications of CSR are different for them.


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