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Common Ownership, Competition, and Top Management Incentives

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  • Antón, Miguel
  • Ederer, Florian
  • Gine, Mireia
  • Schmalz, Martin

Abstract

When one firm’s strategy affects other firms’ value, optimal executive incentives depend on whether shareholders have interests in only one or in multiple firms. Performance-sensitive contracts induce managerial effort to reduce costs, and lower costs induce higher output. Hence, greater managerial effort can lead to lower product prices and industry profits. Therefore, steep managerial incentives can be optimal for a single firm and at the same time violate the interests of common owners of several firms in the same industry. Empirically, managerial wealth is more sensitive to performance when a firm’s largest shareholders do not own large stakes in competitors.

Suggested Citation

  • Antón, Miguel & Ederer, Florian & Gine, Mireia & Schmalz, Martin, 2018. "Common Ownership, Competition, and Top Management Incentives," CEPR Discussion Papers 12674, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12674
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    Cited by:

    1. José Azar & Xavier Vives, 2018. "Oligopoly, Macroeconomic Performance, and Competition Policy," CESifo Working Paper Series 7189, CESifo.
    2. Brito, Duarte & Ribeiro, Ricardo & Vasconcelos, Helder, 2018. "Quantifying the coordinated effects of partial horizontal acquisitions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 108-149.
    3. Melissa Newham & Jo Seldeslachts & Albert Banal-Estanol, 2018. "Common ownership and market entry: Evidence from the pharmaceutical industry," Working Papers of Department of Management, Strategy and Innovation, Leuven 623896, KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), Department of Management, Strategy and Innovation, Leuven.
    4. Werner Neus & Manfred Stadler & Maximiliane Unsorg, 2020. "Market structure, common ownership, and coordinated manager compensation," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(7), pages 1262-1268, October.
    5. Jaspersen, Stefan, 2020. "Mutual Fund Bets on Market Power," CFR Working Papers 16-07, University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    6. Gary Bolton & Axel Ockenfels & Peter Werner, 2016. "Leveraging social relationships and transparency in the insider game," Journal of the Economic Science Association, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 2(2), pages 127-143, November.
    7. Neus, Werner & Stadler, Manfred, 2018. "Common holdings and strategic manager compensation: The case of an asymmetric triopoly," University of Tübingen Working Papers in Business and Economics 109, University of Tuebingen, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, School of Business and Economics.
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    Keywords

    CEO pay; Common ownership; Competition; corporate governance; management incentives;

    JEL classification:

    • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory
    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J41 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Labor Contracts

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