IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/corgov/v11y2003i3p171-179.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Agency Relations within the Family Business System: an exploratory approach

Author

Listed:
  • L.A.A. Van den Berghe
  • Steven Carchon

Abstract

Researchers use various definitions to describe the family firm. The characteristics of family firms that are stressed in each of these definitions are somehow related to family control. All characteristics together reflect a spectrum of family firm types along one core dimension: family involvement in the firm. However, it is more helpful to distinguish among family firms by using their precise type. Each particular family firm type is characterised by a set of agency relations within and between the family system, ownership system and the business system. This paper is a first attempt to apply the insights from agency theory on a highly simplified (reference) family firm situation where the father is full owner and the daughter manager of the family firm. Agency theory establishes the foundation for the optimal contract conditions between father and daughter. While real life is often characterised by bounded rationality and incomplete information, future research should help identify the “optimal contract” be‐tween the family/shareholders and management in various family firm types under these circumstances.

Suggested Citation

  • L.A.A. Van den Berghe & Steven Carchon, 2003. "Agency Relations within the Family Business System: an exploratory approach," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(3), pages 171-179, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:corgov:v:11:y:2003:i:3:p:171-179
    DOI: 10.1111/1467-8683.00316
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8683.00316
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1467-8683.00316?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marco Becht & Colin Mayer, 2002. "Corporate control in Europe," Revue d'économie politique, Dalloz, vol. 112(4), pages 471-498.
    2. Arnoud W.A. Boot & Jonathan R. Macey, 1999. "Objectivity, Proximity and Adaptability in Corporate Governance," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 266, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    3. M. Teresa Lunati, 1997. "Ethical Issues in Economics," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-0-230-37358-7, December.
    4. Macho-Stadler, Ines & Perez-Castrillo, J. David, 2001. "An Introduction to the Economics of Information: Incentives and Contracts," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, edition 2, number 9780199243273.
    5. Barca, Fabrizio & Becht, Marco (ed.), 2001. "The Control of Corporate Europe," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199247424, Decembrie.
    6. Faccio, Mara & Lang, Larry H. P., 2002. "The ultimate ownership of Western European corporations," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(3), pages 365-395, September.
    7. Marco Becht & Fabrizio Barca, 2001. "The control of corporate Europe," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/13302, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ettore Croci, 2007. "Corporate Raiders, Performance and Governance in Europe," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 13(5), pages 949-978, November.
    2. Peter Cziraki & Luc Renneboog & Peter G. Szilagyi, 2010. "Shareholder Activism through Proxy Proposals: The European Perspective," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 16(5), pages 738-777, November.
    3. Susan Perkins & Randall Morck & Bernard Yeung, 2008. "Innocents Abroad: The Hazards of International Joint Ventures with Pyramidal Group Firms," NBER Working Papers 13914, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Andres, Christian & Betzer, André & Goergen, Marc, 2011. "Dividend policy, corporate control and tax clienteles: The case of Germany," CFS Working Paper Series 2011/16, Center for Financial Studies (CFS).
    5. Heitor Almeida & Sang Yong Park & Marti Subrahmanyam & Daniel Wolfenzon, 2009. "The Structure and Formation of Business Groups: Evidence from Korean Chaebols," NBER Working Papers 14983, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Becht, Marco & Bolton, Patrick & Roell, Ailsa, 2003. "Corporate governance and control," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 1, pages 1-109, Elsevier.
    7. Martynova, M. & Renneboog, L.D.R., 2010. "A Corporate Governance Index : Convergence and Diversity of National Corporate Governance Regulations," Discussion Paper 2010-17, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    8. Morten Bennedsen & Kasper Nielsen, 2004. "The Impact of a Break-Through Rule on European Firms," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 259-283, May.
    9. Tristan Auvray & Olivier Brossard, 2012. "Too Dispersed to Monitor? Ownership Dispersion, Monitoring, and the Prediction of Bank Distress," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 44(4), pages 685-714, June.
    10. Feito-Ruiz, Isabel & Renneboog, Luc, 2017. "Takeovers and (excess) CEO compensation," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 156-181.
    11. Karle, H. & Klein, T.J. & Stahl, K.O., 2011. "Ownership and Control in a Competitive Industry," Other publications TiSEM 75fbaeb6-c5b2-498b-93b9-e, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    12. Mike Burkart & Fausto Panunzi & Andrei Shleifer, 2003. "Family Firms," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(5), pages 2167-2201, October.
    13. Larrain, Borja & Urzúa I., Francisco, 2013. "Controlling shareholders and market timing in share issuance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(3), pages 661-681.
    14. Heitor Almeida & Daniel Wolfenzon, 2005. "A Theory of Pyramidal Ownership and Family Business Groups," NBER Working Papers 11368, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Anna Maria Biscotti & Eugenio D’Amico, 2016. "Theoretical foundation of IC disclosure strategies in high-tech industries," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 13(1), pages 1-25, February.
    16. Maury, Benjamin & Pajuste, Anete, 2005. "Multiple large shareholders and firm value," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(7), pages 1813-1834, July.
    17. Donatella Gatti, 2009. "Macroeconomic effects of ownership structure in OECD countries ," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 18(5), pages 901-928, October.
    18. Christian Andres & André Betzer & Inga Bongard & Marc Goergen, 2019. "Dividend policy, corporate control and the tax status of the controlling shareholder," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 46(2), pages 157-189, June.
    19. Hamadi, Malika & Heinen, Andréas, 2015. "Firm performance when ownership is very concentrated: Evidence from a semiparametric panel," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 172-194.
    20. Mike Burkart & Samuel Lee, 2008. "One Share - One Vote: the Theory," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 12(1), pages 1-49.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:corgov:v:11:y:2003:i:3:p:171-179. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0964-8410&site=1 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.