Corporate Ownership Structure and Firm Performance: evidence from Greek firms
Abstract
The Berle-Means thesis (1932 "The Modern Corporation and Private Property". New York: Harcourt, Brace and World) implies that diffuse ownership adversely affects firm performance. This paper tries to investigate whether there is strong evidence to support the notion that variations across firms in observed ownership structures result in systematic variations in observed firm performance. We test this hypothesis by assessing the impact of the structure of ownership on corporate performance, measured by profitability, using data for 175 Greek listed firms. Following Demsetz and Villalonga (2001 Ownership Structure and Corporate Performance, "Journal of Corporate Finance", 7, 209-233), we model ownership structure, first, as an endogenous variable and, second, we consider two different measures of ownership structure reflecting different groups of shareholders with conflicting interests. Empirical findings suggest that a more concentrated ownership structure positively relates to higher firm profitability. We also find that higher firm profitability requires a less diffused ownership. Copyright (c) 2007 The Authors; Journal compilation (c) 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.Download Info
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Bibliographic Info
Article provided by Wiley Blackwell in its journal Corporate Governance: An International Review.
Volume (Year): 15 (2007)
Issue (Month): 2 (03)
Pages: 144-158
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Related research
Keywords:Other versions of this item:
- Panayotis Kapopoulos & Sophia Lazaretou, 2006. "Corporate Ownership Structure and Firm Performance: Evidence from Greek Firms," Working Papers 37, Bank of Greece.
- G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
- G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
References
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Citations
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- Hans Genberg, 2006.
"Exchange-rate arrangements and financial integration in East Asia: on a collision course?,"
International Economics and Economic Policy,
Springer, vol. 3(3), pages 359-377, December.
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- Omar Al Farooque & Tony van Zijl & Keitha Dunstan & Akm Waresul Karim, 2010. "Co-deterministic relationship between ownership concentration and corporate performance: Evidence from an emerging economy," Accounting Research Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 23(2), pages 172-189, September.
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"A Worldwide System of Reference Rates,"
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- Alexandros E. Milionis, 2006. "An Alternative Definition of Market Efficiency and some Comments on its Empirical Testing," Working Papers 50, Bank of Greece.
- Maria-Eleni K. Agoraki & Manthos D. Delis & Panagiotis K. Staikouras, 2010.
"The effect of board size and composition on bank efficiency,"
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