scholarly journals Does the CEO effect on performance differ in private versus public firms?

2021 ◽  
pp. 147612702110181
Author(s):  
Timothy J. Quigley ◽  
Francesco Chirico ◽  
Massimo Baù

Scholars have long debated the effect CEOs have on firm performance, including a focus on how their effect shifts across industries, national settings, and time. Unexplored, however, is the possibility that the CEO effect might differ in publicly traded versus privately held firms. Drawing on a unique longitudinal sample of both publicly traded and large, privately held Swedish firms from 1997 to 2013, we replicate and build upon prior CEO effects studies and find that private-firm CEOs have a greater effect on firm performance, for good or for ill, than do their public firm counterparts. Our results are strengthened after controlling for industry, firm profitability, and size in a matched-pair sample. We discuss the implications and potential future research stemming from these findings.

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 207-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Emily Hickman

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the motivations behind the publication of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports, and particularly the effect of information asymmetry between firms and their owners. Design/methodology/approach A natural experiment contrasting the CSR reporting of private vs public firms is used to test whether the degree of information asymmetry is a significant factor in the decision to publish CSR reports. Using a hand-collected sample of the 239 largest US private companies matched with publicly-traded firms, the effect of these inherently different information environments on CSR reporting is tested through logistic regression. Factors suggested by stakeholder and legitimacy theories are tested for their differential impact on private vs public firms’ decisions to publish a CSR report. Findings Results indicate that private firms are less likely to publish a CSR report than similar public firms. Public firms also follow Global Reporting Initiative guidelines more frequently, consistent with signaling report quality to dispersed investors. A subsample of private companies facing greater information asymmetry is found to be similar to public firms in their reporting behavior, reinforcing the link between information asymmetry and CSR disclosure. Further analysis suggests that non-owner stakeholders play an important role in private companies’ CSR reporting decisions. Practical implications In addition to accounting and governance scholars, the findings should interest private firm managers preparing for an initial public offering (IPO), as the evidence suggests that CSR reporting is used to communicate information to dispersed investors. The insight into reporting motivations should be useful to accountants engaged in CSR consultation and assurance. Social implications With the growing attention paid to the CSR performance of firms, demonstrated by the growth in socially responsible investing, the study provides evidence that effective communication of CSR information to investors may play a key role in CSR-engaged firms’ disclosure strategies. Originality/value To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first to analyze the CSR reporting decisions of a large sample of publicly-traded and privately-held firms. The results add to our understanding of what motivates firms to publish CSR reports, highlighting the importance of information asymmetry between the firm and its owners.


Author(s):  
Borja Amor Tapia ◽  
María Teresa Tascón Fernández

Este trabajo examina las propiedades de los ajustes al devengo, los flujos de caja y los resultados en las empresas europeas no cotizadas. A partir de varias hipótesis sobre la persistencia de losresultados y sus componentes, encontramos que las empresas no cotizadas parecen comportarse de forma diferente a la evidencia encontrada previamente sobre las empresas cotizadas. Lasdiferencias son significativas cuando los ajustes al devengo son extremos, dado que la persistencia del ROA y de los flujos de caja siguen patrones de comportamiento distintos a los encontrados en las empresas estadounidenses cotizadas. Pero contrariamente a nuestrashipótesis, las diferencias en la persistencia no son significativas cuando las empresas no cotizadas publican resultados positivos frente a resultados negativos.<br /><br />This paper examines the properties of accruals, cash flows and earnings in European privately held firms. We start from several hypotheses about the persistence of earnings and its components, finding that private companies seem to behave in a different manner than the publicly traded firms tested in previous literature. As hypothesized, differences are significant when accruals are extreme, though in European private firms, persistence of ROA relative to cash flow follows a different pattern than in US public firms. But contrary to our expectations, differences in persistence are not significant when companies report positive versus negative earnings.


Author(s):  
Borja Amor Tapia ◽  
María Teresa Tascón Fernández

Este trabajo examina las propiedades de los ajustes al devengo, los flujos de caja y los resultados en las empresas europeas no cotizadas. A partir de varias hipótesis sobre la persistencia de losresultados y sus componentes, encontramos que las empresas no cotizadas parecen comportarse de forma diferente a la evidencia encontrada previamente sobre las empresas cotizadas. Lasdiferencias son significativas cuando los ajustes al devengo son extremos, dado que la persistencia del ROA y de los flujos de caja siguen patrones de comportamiento distintos a los encontrados en las empresas estadounidenses cotizadas. Pero contrariamente a nuestrashipótesis, las diferencias en la persistencia no son significativas cuando las empresas no cotizadas publican resultados positivos frente a resultados negativos.<br /><br />This paper examines the properties of accruals, cash flows and earnings in European privately held firms. We start from several hypotheses about the persistence of earnings and its components, finding that private companies seem to behave in a different manner than the publicly traded firms tested in previous literature. As hypothesized, differences are significant when accruals are extreme, though in European private firms, persistence of ROA relative to cash flow follows a different pattern than in US public firms. But contrary to our expectations, differences in persistence are not significant when companies report positive versus negative earnings.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahnoor Sattar ◽  
Pallab Kumar Biswas ◽  
Helen Roberts

Purpose This paper aims to examine the relationship between board gender diversity and private firm performance. Design/methodology/approach The authors test the association between board gender diversity and private firm performance by estimating pooled multivariate regressions using an unbalanced panel data set of 115,253 firm-year observations. Findings The authors find that younger, less busy and local women directors enhance private firm performance. Firms with 40% or more women directors report triple the economic benefits compared to boards with at least 20% women directors. Considering firm size, women directors significantly increase small firm profitability, and the effect is more pronounced for high-risk firms. Greater board gender diversity enhances small firm performance as the monitoring role of women directors benefits the firm even in the presence of busy men directors. Consistent with the agency theory framework, the authors find that women directors improve small firm profitability in the presence of agency costs. Research limitations/implications Due to the lack of availability of data about private firms, many factors are not directly observable. The analysis uses accounting-based performance measures that may be subject to managerial discretion. Nevertheless, the authors report highly significant results using cash-based performance measures that substantiate the overall findings. Practical implications The results of the present study point to the need for private firms to increase board gender diversity and consider women director busyness, age, nationality and firm size when making board director appointments. Originality/value This study adds to the scarce existent literature investigating private firms. The results contribute to the understanding of gender-diverse boards as well as the attributes of women directors that enhance private firm performance.


2006 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 107-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven J. Davis ◽  
John Haltiwanger ◽  
Ron Jarmin ◽  
Javier Miranda ◽  
Christopher Foote ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vas Taras ◽  
Esra Memili ◽  
Zhonghui Wang ◽  
Henrik Harms

Purpose This study aims to investigate the effects of family involvement in corporations on firm performance. It remains unclear whether family-owned companies, or companies with other forms of family involvement in the corporate governance, perform better than firms with no family involvement. Furthermore, the study focuses on family involvement in publicly traded firms, which are different from private family firms. Hence, knowledge about family firms will be enriched through a closer look at the publicly traded family firms and shed further light onto the heterogeneity among family firms. Design/methodology/approach The present study uses a meta-analysis of the extant research on family involvement and publicly traded family firm performance. The authors synthesize past research, identify and reconcile mixed findings and expand the understanding of the phenomenon. Findings Involvement of the founding family members in firm governance tends to improve firm performance, albeit the effect is rather weak. However, the effect varies greatly depending on the type of family involvement and the measure of performance. The authors also identify regional differences, as well as variations by the firm size and study design. Furthermore, under-researched areas are identified for future research. Practical implications The results of the study would be useful in guiding organizational design and investment decisions. Originality/value By using the meta-analytic approach, the present study provides a comprehensive review of the empirical evidence available on the issue so far. Most importantly, the authors were able to conduct a series of tests to assess the moderating effects of a number of factors that could not be evaluated in any individual study in the meta-analytic database.


2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 1488-1516 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle L. Zorn ◽  
Jennifer C. Sexton ◽  
Manjot S. Bhussar ◽  
Bruce T. Lamont

We highlight a largely unstudied phenomenon that affects postacquisition performance: nested acquisitions. Nested acquisitions occur when a firm acquires a target firm that has itself recently acquired another firm. In our study of publicly traded U.S. acquirers and targets from 2000 to 2014, we theorize that nested acquirers face unique integration difficulties that reduce acquirer postacquisition performance. Specifically, we build on Penrosian logic and theorize that nested acquisitions tax the managerial capacity of the acquiring and acquired firms more than nonnested ones and that, as nested acquisition complexity increases due to variance within the embedded nested targets (i.e., greater number, more recent, less related, and larger nested targets), the drain on managerial capacity also increases. Ultimately, these challenges increase the likelihood of reduced postacquisition performance. Given these suggested difficulties, we theorize that retaining focal target managers can aid the acquiring firm and thereby help to reduce negative performance outcomes. In our unique sample of matched-pair firms, we find that nested acquisitions are associated with lower postacquisition performance but that retaining target firm managers can reduce this effect.


2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 74-80
Author(s):  
Omar Masood ◽  
Bora Aktan ◽  
Seref Turen ◽  
Kiran Javaria ◽  
Mohamed Sayed Abou ElSeoud

This study investigates the impact of various resources, specifically both tangible and intangible ones, together with capabilities of Malaysian listed firms, on their performance. This empirical study attempts to enrich the understanding of the resources-performance relationship, which is one of a business process within the firm, as well as filling the gaps in present knowledge. Firms, which are not able to develop and sustain their performance, are associated with the vulnerability and adverse performance result, especially during various periods of economic crisis (three sub-periods of major shocks, i.e., The Volcker Shock (Commodities Shock) of early 1980s, Asian Financial Crisis of the late 1990s, and the Global Financial Meltdown of 2008). Hence, this research intends to explore which resources matter the most to firm profitability and its success. Drawing upon the combination of Donabedian’s structure process outcome and resource-based theories of the firm a conceptual framework is developed. Data for the study were collected from a sample of 250 publicly traded companies listed on Bursa Malaysia (MYX). In order to achieve the objective and response to the study question, partial least square and regression analysis are applied. Findings indicate that tangible resources have no impact, while intangible resources have positive and significant impact on firm performance. In addition, results show that efficient allocation of intangible resources is crucial to achieving good performance.


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