IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/corfin/v18y2012i4p727-744.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The evolution of boards and CEOs following performance declines

Author

Listed:
  • Easterwood, John C.
  • İnce, Özgür Ş.
  • Raheja, Charu G.

Abstract

This paper examines the evolution of corporate boards following a large performance decline. Over 40% of the original directors depart the board during the three years following underperformance. Measures of initial CEO influence over the board such as CEO ownership are associated with smaller increases in board independence and less board turnover. The underperforming firms undergo a strong recovery subsequently, with the largest performance improvement occurring among firms that experience no turnover on their boards and among firms that do not change their board independence. We conclude that the large board turnover experienced by underperforming firms presents significant challenges for subsequent recovery.

Suggested Citation

  • Easterwood, John C. & İnce, Özgür Ş. & Raheja, Charu G., 2012. "The evolution of boards and CEOs following performance declines," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 727-744.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:corfin:v:18:y:2012:i:4:p:727-744
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2012.05.006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092911991200051X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2012.05.006?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kenneth M. Lehn & Mengxin Zhao, 2006. "CEO Turnover after Acquisitions: Are Bad Bidders Fired?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(4), pages 1759-1811, August.
    2. Aghion, Philippe & Tirole, Jean, 1997. "Formal and Real Authority in Organizations," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 105(1), pages 1-29, February.
    3. Kaplan, Steven N. & Minton, Bernadette A., 1994. "Appointments of outsiders to Japanese boards: Determinants and implications for managers," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 225-258, October.
    4. White, Halbert, 1980. "A Heteroskedasticity-Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimator and a Direct Test for Heteroskedasticity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(4), pages 817-838, May.
    5. Milton Harris & Artur Raviv, 2008. "A Theory of Board Control and Size," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(4), pages 1797-1832, July.
    6. Jeffrey L. Coles & Chun‐Keung Hoi, 2003. "New Evidence on the Market for Directors: Board Membership and Pennsylvania Senate Bill 1310," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(1), pages 197-230, February.
    7. Himmelberg, Charles P. & Hubbard, R. Glenn & Palia, Darius, 1999. "Understanding the determinants of managerial ownership and the link between ownership and performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 353-384, September.
    8. Anil Shivdasani & David Yermack, 1999. "CEO Involvement in the Selection of New Board Members: An Empirical Analysis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(5), pages 1829-1853, October.
    9. Barber, Brad M. & Lyon, John D., 1996. "Detecting abnormal operating performance: The empirical power and specification of test statistics," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 359-399, July.
    10. Ryan, Harley Jr. & Wiggins, Roy III, 2004. "Who is in whose pocket? Director compensation, board independence, and barriers to effective monitoring," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(3), pages 497-524, September.
    11. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    12. Tod Perry & Anil Shivdasani, 2005. "Do Boards Affect Performance? Evidence from Corporate Restructuring," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 78(4), pages 1403-1432, July.
    13. Mike Burkart & Denis Gromb & Fausto Panunzi, 1997. "Large Shareholders, Monitoring, and the Value of the Firm," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(3), pages 693-728.
    14. Nina Baranchuk & Philip H. Dybvig, 2009. "Consensus in Diverse Corporate Boards," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(2), pages 715-747, February.
    15. Boone, Audra L. & Casares Field, Laura & Karpoff, Jonathan M. & Raheja, Charu G., 2007. "The determinants of corporate board size and composition: An empirical analysis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(1), pages 66-101, July.
    16. Andres Almazan & Javier Suarez, 2003. "Entrenchment and Severance Pay in Optimal Governance Structures," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(2), pages 519-548, April.
    17. Linck, James S. & Netter, Jeffry M. & Yang, Tina, 2008. "The determinants of board structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 308-328, February.
    18. Fich, Eliezer M. & Shivdasani, Anil, 2007. "Financial fraud, director reputation, and shareholder wealth," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 306-336, November.
    19. Renée B. Adams & Daniel Ferreira, 2007. "A Theory of Friendly Boards," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(1), pages 217-250, February.
    20. Gilson, Stuart C., 1990. "Bankruptcy, boards, banks, and blockholders : Evidence on changes in corporate ownership and control when firms default," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 355-387, October.
    21. John, Kose & Lang, Larry H P & Netter, Jeffry, 1992. "The Voluntary Restructuring of Large Firms in Response to Performance Decline," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(3), pages 891-917, July.
    22. Julian Atanassov & E. Han Kim, 2009. "Labor and Corporate Governance: International Evidence from Restructuring Decisions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(1), pages 341-374, February.
    23. Yermack, David, 1996. "Higher market valuation of companies with a small board of directors," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 185-211, February.
    24. Kang, Jun-Koo & Shivdasani, Anil, 1997. "Corporate restructuring during performance declines in Japan," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 29-65, October.
    25. David Yermack, 2004. "Remuneration, Retention, and Reputation Incentives for Outside Directors," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 59(5), pages 2281-2308, October.
    26. Aiyesha Dey, 2008. "Corporate Governance and Agency Conflicts," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(5), pages 1143-1181, December.
    27. Brickley, James A., 2003. "Empirical research on CEO turnover and firm-performance: a discussion," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1-3), pages 227-233, December.
    28. Denis, David J. & Sarin, Atulya, 1999. "Ownership and board structures in publicly traded corporations," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 187-223, May.
    29. Benjamin E. Hermalin, 2005. "Trends in Corporate Governance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(5), pages 2351-2384, October.
    30. Hermalin, Benjamin E & Weisbach, Michael S, 1998. "Endogenously Chosen Boards of Directors and Their Monitoring of the CEO," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(1), pages 96-118, March.
    31. Farrell, Kathleen A & Whidbee, David A, 2000. "The Consequences of Forced CEO Succession for Outside Directors," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 73(4), pages 597-627, October.
    32. Raheja, Charu G., 2005. "Determinants of Board Size and Composition: A Theory of Corporate Boards," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 40(2), pages 283-306, June.
    33. Renée B. Adams & Daniel Ferreira, 2009. "Strong Managers, Weak Boards?," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 55(3-4), pages 482-514.
    34. Kenneth M. Lehn & Sukesh Patro & Mengxin Zhao, 2009. "Determinants of the Size and Composition of US Corporate Boards: 1935‐2000," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 38(4), pages 747-780, December.
    35. Denis, David J. & Kruse, Timothy A., 2000. "Managerial discipline and corporate restructuring following performance declines," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 391-424, March.
    36. Renée B. Adams & Heitor Almeida & Daniel Ferreira, 2005. "Powerful CEOs and Their Impact on Corporate Performance," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 18(4), pages 1403-1432.
    37. Coles, Jeffrey L. & Daniel, Naveen D. & Naveen, Lalitha, 2008. "Boards: Does one size fit all," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 329-356, February.
    38. Huson, Mark R. & Malatesta, Paul H. & Parrino, Robert, 2004. "Managerial succession and firm performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 237-275, November.
    39. Weisbach, Michael S., 1988. "Outside directors and CEO turnover," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1-2), pages 431-460, January.
    40. Bushman, Robert M. & Smith, Abbie J., 2001. "Financial accounting information and corporate governance," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1-3), pages 237-333, December.
    41. Andres Almazan & Javier Suarez, 2003. "Entrenchment and Severance Pay in Optimal Governance Structures," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(2), pages 519-547, April.
    42. Benjamin E. Hermalin & Michael S. Weisbach, 1988. "The Determinants of Board Composition," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 19(4), pages 589-606, Winter.
    43. Eisenberg, Theodore & Sundgren, Stefan & Wells, Martin T., 1998. "Larger board size and decreasing firm value in small firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 35-54, April.
    44. Khanna, Naveen & Poulsen, Annette B, 1995. "Managers of Financially Distressed Firms: Villains or Scapegoats?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(3), pages 919-940, July.
    45. Baker, Malcolm & Gompers, Paul A, 2003. "The Determinants of Board Structure at the Initial Public Offering," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 46(2), pages 569-598, October.
    46. Wintoki, M. Babajide & Linck, James S. & Netter, Jeffry M., 2012. "Endogeneity and the dynamics of internal corporate governance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(3), pages 581-606.
    47. McNeil, Chris & Niehaus, Greg & Powers, Eric, 2004. "Management turnover in subsidiaries of conglomerates versus stand-alone firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 63-96, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Javakhadze, David & Shelton, Austin, 2022. "Executive social connections and gender pay gaps," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    2. Blank, D. Brian & Hadley, Brandy, 2021. "When CEOs adapt: An investigation of manager experience, policy and performance following recessions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    3. Le, Quyen & Vafaei, Alireza & Ahmed, Kamran & Kutubi, Shawgat, 2022. "Independent directors' reputation incentives and firm performance – an Australian perspective," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    4. Maurizio La Rocca & Francesco Fasano & Tiziana La Rocca & Neha Neha, 2024. "Women in CEO duality and firm performance in Europe," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 28(1), pages 177-214, March.
    5. Chowdhury, Biplob & Dungey, Mardi & Pham, Thu Phuong, 2014. "The impact of post-IPO changes in corporate governance mechanisms on firm performance: evidence from young Australian firms," Working Papers 2014-11, University of Tasmania, Tasmanian School of Business and Economics, revised 24 Sep 2014.
    6. Fiordelisi, Franco & Ricci, Ornella, 2014. "Corporate culture and CEO turnover," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 66-82.
    7. Ferris, Stephen P. & Javakhadze, David & Liu, Yun, 2020. "The price of boardroom social capital: The effects of corporate demand for external connectivity," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    8. Crespí-Cladera, Rafel & Pascual-Fuster, Bartolomé, 2014. "Does the independence of independent directors matter?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 116-134.
    9. Cicero, David & Wintoki, M. Babajide & Yang, Tina, 2013. "How do public companies adjust their board structures?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 108-127.
    10. Nguyen, Tuan & Nguyen, An & Nguyen, Mau & Truong, Thuyen, 2021. "Is national governance quality a key moderator of the boardroom gender diversity–firm performance relationship? International evidence from a multi-hierarchical analysis," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 370-390.
    11. Israr Khan & Mansi Wang, 2021. "Evaluating Corporate Performance and Bank Productivity in China: The Moderating Role of Independent Directors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-13, March.
    12. Cavaco, Sandra & Crifo, Patricia & Rebérioux, Antoine & Roudaut, Gwenael, 2017. "Independent directors: Less informed but better selected than affiliated board members?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 106-121.
    13. González, Maximiliano & Guzmán, Alexander & Pablo, Eduardo & Trujillo, María-Andrea, 2019. "Is board turnover driven by performance in family firms?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 169-186.

    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. Renee B. Adams & Benjamin E. Hermalin & Michael S. Weisbach, 2010. "The Role of Boards of Directors in Corporate Governance: A Conceptual Framework and Survey," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(1), pages 58-107, March.
    2. Berger, Allen N. & Kick, Thomas & Schaeck, Klaus, 2014. "Executive board composition and bank risk taking," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 48-65.
    3. Naeem Tabassum & Satwinder Singh, 2020. "Corporate Governance and Organisational Performance," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-030-48527-6, September.
    4. James, Hui Liang & Borah, Nilakshi & Lirely, Roger, 2022. "The effectiveness of board independence in high-discretion firms," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 103-117.
    5. Coles, Jeffrey L. & Daniel, Naveen D. & Naveen, Lalitha, 2008. "Boards: Does one size fit all," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 329-356, February.
    6. Doyoung Kim, 2012. "On the determinants of director additions and removals," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(10), pages 1219-1233, April.
    7. Armstrong, Christopher S. & Guay, Wayne R. & Weber, Joseph P., 2010. "The role of information and financial reporting in corporate governance and debt contracting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 179-234, December.
    8. Fahlenbrach, Rüdiger & Low, Angie & Stulz, René M., 2010. "Why do firms appoint CEOs as outside directors?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(1), pages 12-32, July.
    9. James, Hui & Hsieh, Chialing & Wu, Chen Y., 2017. "Board structure of immigrant-founder firms," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 42, pages 11-23.
    10. Rüdiger Fahlenbrach & Angie Low & René M. Stulz, 2010. "The Dark Side of Outside Directors: Do they Quit When They are Most Needed?," Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper Series 10-17, Swiss Finance Institute.
    11. Volonté, Christophe, 2015. "Boards: Independent and committed directors?," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 25-37.
    12. Franco Ernesto Rubino & Paolo Tenuta & Domenico Rocco Cambrea, 2017. "Board characteristics effects on performance in family and non-family business: a multi-theoretical approach," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 21(3), pages 623-658, September.
    13. Chen, Ming-Yuan, 2014. "Determinants of corporate board structure in Taiwan," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 62-78.
    14. Dahya, Jay & Golubov, Andrey & Petmezas, Dimitris & Travlos, Nickolaos G., 2019. "Governance mandates, outside directors, and acquirer performance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 218-238.
    15. Thomas J. Chemmanur & Viktar Fedaseyeu, 2018. "A Theory of Corporate Boards and Forced CEO Turnover," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(10), pages 4798-4817, October.
    16. Iwasaki, Ichiro, 2008. "The determinants of board composition in a transforming economy: Evidence from Russia," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(5), pages 532-549, December.
    17. Mamdouh Abdulaziz Saleh Al-Faryan, 2021. "The effect of board composition and managerial pay on Saudi firm performance," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 693-758, August.
    18. González, Maximiliano & Guzmán, Alexander & Pablo, Eduardo & Trujillo, María-Andrea, 2019. "Is board turnover driven by performance in family firms?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 169-186.
    19. Ahn, Seoungpil & Shrestha, Keshab, 2013. "The differential effects of classified boards on firm value," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(11), pages 3993-4013.
    20. Catarina Fernandes & Jorge Farinha & Francisco Vitorino Martins & Cesario Mateus, 2018. "Bank governance and performance: a survey of the literature," Journal of Banking Regulation, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(3), pages 236-256, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Corporate governance; CEO influence; Performance; Board structure; Director turnover; Financial distress;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • G3 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance

    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:eee:corfin:v:18:y:2012:i:4:p:727-744. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jcorpfin .

    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.