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Managerial Legacies, Entrenchment, and Strategic Inertia

Author

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  • CATHERINE CASAMATTA
  • ALEXANDER GUEMBEL

Abstract

This paper argues that the legacy potential of a firm's strategy is an important determinant of CEO compensation, turnover, and strategy change. A legacy makes CEO replacement expensive, because firm performance can only partially be attributed to a newly employed manager. Boards may therefore optimally allow an incumbent to be entrenched. Moreover, when a firm changes strategy it is optimal to change the CEO, because the incumbent has a vested interest in seeing the new strategy fail. Even though CEOs have no specific skills in our model, legacy issues can explain the empirical association between CEO and strategy change.

Suggested Citation

  • Catherine Casamatta & Alexander Guembel, 2010. "Managerial Legacies, Entrenchment, and Strategic Inertia," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(6), pages 2403-2436, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jfinan:v:65:y:2010:i:6:p:2403-2436
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-6261.2010.01619.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Ronald Anderson & Cecilia Bustamante & Stéphane Guibaud & Mihail Zervos, 2018. "Agency, Firm Growth, and Managerial Turnover," Sciences Po Economics Publications (main) hal-03391936, HAL.
    2. Zenan Wu & Xi Weng, 2018. "Managerial turnover and entrenchment," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(4), pages 742-771, October.
    3. Anderson, Ronald W. & Bustamante, Maria Cecilia & Guibaud, Stéphane, 2012. "Agency, firm growth, and managerial turnover," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 43144, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/2gg54vdji291pb220pomk85ev8 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Spear, Stephen E. & Wang, Cheng, 2005. "When to fire a CEO: optimal termination in dynamic contracts," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 120(2), pages 239-256, February.
    6. Graham, John R. & Kim, Hyunseob & Leary, Mark, 2020. "CEO-board dynamics," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(3), pages 612-636.
    7. Ronald Anderson & Cecilia Bustamante & Stéphane Guibaud & Mihail Zervos, 2018. "Agency, Firm Growth, and Managerial Turnover," Post-Print hal-03391936, HAL.
    8. Colak, Gonul & Liljeblom, Eva, 2022. "Easy cleanups or forbearing improvements: The effect of CEO tenure on successor’s performance," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    9. Ronald Anderson & Cecilia Bustamante & Stéphane Guibaud, 2013. "Agency, Firm Growth, and Managerial Turnover," Working Papers hal-03470530, HAL.
    10. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/2iclr3ojhv9ko9ord4mpg9odaj is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Dow, James, 2013. "Boards, CEO entrenchment, and the cost of capital," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(3), pages 680-695.
    12. Gyan, Kwaku Alex & Galvin, Peter & Adjei-Bamfo, Peter, 2025. "Does FinTech matter for rigidity and risk aversion among incumbent firms?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    13. Kim, Doyoung, 2017. "Motivating for new changes when agents have reputation concerns," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 37-53.
    14. Xu Jiang & Volker Laux, 2024. "What Role Do Boards Play in Companies with Visionary CEOs?," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 62(3), pages 981-1005, June.
    15. Ronald Anderson & Cecilia Bustamante & Stéphane Guibaud & Mihail Zervos, 2018. "Agency, Firm Growth, and Managerial Turnover," SciencePo Working papers hal-03391936, HAL.
    16. Zhen Huang & Weiwei Gao, 2022. "Has the past really passed? Strategic inertia and capital structure persistence," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(4), pages 883-893, June.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • J33 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Compensation Packages; Payment Methods

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