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Inside the Family Firm: The Role of Families in Succession Decisions and Performance

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Author Info
Morten Bennedsen
Kasper M. Nielsen
Francisco Pérez-González
Daniel Wolfenzon
Abstract

This paper uses a unique dataset from Denmark to investigate the impact of family characteristics in corporate decision making and the consequences of these decisions on firm performance. We focus on the decision to appoint either a family or external chief executive officer (CEO). The paper uses variation in CEO succession decisions that result from the gender of a departing CEO%u2019s firstborn child. This is a plausible instrumental variable (IV), as male first-child firms are more likely to pass on control to a family CEO than are female first-child firms, but the gender of the first child is unlikely to affect firms%u2019 outcomes. We find that family successions have a large negative causal impact on firm performance: operating profitability on assets falls by at least four percentage points around CEO transitions. Our IV estimates are significantly larger than those obtained using ordinary least squares. Furthermore, we show that family-CEO underperformance is particularly large in fast-growing industries, industries with highly skilled labor force and relatively large firms. Overall, our empirical results demonstrate that professional, non-family CEOs provide extremely valuable services to the organizations they head.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 12356.

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Date of creation: Jul 2006
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:12356

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Capital and Ownership Structure
G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
M13 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting - - Business Administration - - - New Firms; Startups

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  2. Prasad S. Bhattacharya & Michael Graham, 2007. "Institutional Ownership and Firm Performance: Evidence from Finland," Accounting, Finance, Financial Planning and Insurance Series 2007_01, Deakin University, Faculty of Business and Law, School of Accounting, Economics and Finance. [Downloadable!]
  3. Ross Levine & Luc Laeven, 2007. "Complex Ownership Structures and Corporate Valuations," IMF Working Papers 07/140, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
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  4. Simon C. Parker & C. Mirjam van Praag, 2006. "The entrepreneur’s mode of entry: Business takeover or new venture start?," Papers on Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy 2006-26, Max Planck Institute of Economics, Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy Group. [Downloadable!]
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  5. Schneider, Cédric, 2007. "The Outcome of Patent Applications - Does Experience Matter?," MPRA Paper 3359, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
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