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Executive Compensation, Strategic Competition, and Relative Performance Evaluation: Theory and Evidence

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Author Info
Rajesh Aggarwal
Andrew A. Samwick

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Abstract

We argue that strategic interactions between firms in an oligopoly can explain the puzzling lack of high-powered incentives in executive compensation contracts written by shareholders whose objective is to maximize the value of their shares. We derive the optimal compensation contracts for managers and demonstrate that the use of high-powered incentives will be limited by the need to soften product market competition. In particular, when managers can be compensated based on their own and their rivals' performance, we show that there will be an inverse relationship between the magnitude of high-powered incentives and the degree of competition in the industry. More competitive industries are characterized by weaker pay-performance incentives. Empirically, we find strong evidence of this inverse relationship in the compensation of executives in the United States. Our econometric results are not consistent with alternative theories of the effect of competition on executive compensation. We conclude that strategic considerations can preclude the use of high-powered incentives, in contrast to the predictions of the standard principal-agent model.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 5648.

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Date of creation: Jul 1996
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:5648

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

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    Other versions:
  2. Koenker, Roger & Bassett, Gilbert, Jr, 1982. "Robust Tests for Heteroscedasticity Based on Regression Quantiles," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(1), pages 43-61, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Steven D. Sklivas, 1987. "The Strategic Choice of Managerial Incentives," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 18(3), pages 452-458, Autumn. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1996. "A Survey of Corporate Governance," NBER Working Papers 5554, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Fershtman, Chaim & Judd, Kenneth L, 1987. "Equilibrium Incentives in Oligopoly," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(5), pages 927-40, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Robert Gibbons & Kevin J. Murphy, 1990. "Relative performance evaluation for chief executive officers," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, ILR School, Cornell University, vol. 43(3), pages 30-51, February.
  11. Benjamin E. Hermalin, 1992. "The Effects of Competition on Executive Behavior," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 23(3), pages 350-365, Autumn. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Bengt Holmstrom, 1979. "Moral Hazard and Observability," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 10(1), pages 74-91, Spring. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Bengt Holmstrom, 1982. "Moral Hazard in Teams," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 13(2), pages 324-340, Autumn. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Michael L. Katz., 1991. "Game-Playing Agents: Unobservable Contracts as Precommitments," Economics Working Papers 91-172, University of California at Berkeley.
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  1. Chaim Fershtman & Hans K. Hvide & Yoram Weiss, 2003. "A behavioral Explanation for the Relative Performance Evaluation Puzzle," Annales d'Economie et de Statistique, ADRES, issue 71-72, pages 16, Juillet-D. [Downloadable!]
  2. John M. Abowd & David S. Kaplan, 1999. "Executive Compensation: Six Questions That Need Answering," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 13(4), pages 145-168, Fall. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. Canice Prendergast, 2000. "The Tenuous Tradeoff Between Risk and Incentives," NBER Working Papers 7815, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Pierre Fleckinger, 2007. "On Multiagent Moral Hazard under Technological Uncertainty," Working Papers hal-00240716_v1, HAL. [Downloadable!]
  5. Constantine Manasakis & Evangelos Mitrokostas & Emmanuel Petrakis, 2009. "Endogenous managerial incentive contracts in a differentiated duopoly, with and without commitment," Working Papers 0905, University of Crete, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  6. Xavier Giroud & Holger M. Mueller, 2009. "Does Corporate Governance Matter in Competitive Industries?," NBER Working Papers 14877, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Vicente Cuñat & Maria Guadalupe, 2009. "Globalization and the Provision of Incentives inside the Firm: The Effect of Foreign Competition," Economics Working Papers 1134, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  8. Franklin Allen & Elena Carletti & Robert Marquez, 2009. "Stakeholder Capitalism, Corporate Governance and Firm Value," Economics Working Papers ECO2009/10, European University Institute. [Downloadable!]
  9. Oyer, Paul, 2001. "Why Do Firms Use Incentives That Have No Incentive Effects?," Research Papers 1686, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  10. Constantine Manasakis & Evangelos Mitrokostas & Emmanuel Petrakis, 2007. "Endogenous Strategic Managerial Incentive Contracts," Working Papers 0706, University of Crete, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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