The determinants of the CEO successor choice in family firms

Iram Fatima Ansari; Marc Goergen; Svetlana Mira

doi:10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2013.12.006

The determinants of the CEO successor choice in family firms

Iram Fatima Ansari, Marc Goergen, Svetlana Mira^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

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46 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper studies the factors that influence the CEO succession decision in family firms whose incumbent CEO is a member of the controlling family. The sample includes all such firms from France, Germany and the UK. We propose a new measure of directors' independence, which adjusts for various links with the controlling family. While we find that conventionally defined directors' independence has no impact on the CEO succession decision, our corrected measure reduces the likelihood of the successor being another family member. There is also evidence that firms from France that are cross-listed in the UK or USA are less likely to appoint another family CEO.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	6-25
Number of pages	20
Journal	Journal of Corporate Finance
Volume	28
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2013.12.006
Publication status	Published - Oct 1 2014

Keywords

CEO succession
Corporate control and ownership
Corporate governance
Family firms
G32
G34

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Business and International Management
Finance
Economics and Econometrics
Strategy and Management

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10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2013.12.006

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abstract = "This paper studies the factors that influence the CEO succession decision in family firms whose incumbent CEO is a member of the controlling family. The sample includes all such firms from France, Germany and the UK. We propose a new measure of directors' independence, which adjusts for various links with the controlling family. While we find that conventionally defined directors' independence has no impact on the CEO succession decision, our corrected measure reduces the likelihood of the successor being another family member. There is also evidence that firms from France that are cross-listed in the UK or USA are less likely to appoint another family CEO.",

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AB - This paper studies the factors that influence the CEO succession decision in family firms whose incumbent CEO is a member of the controlling family. The sample includes all such firms from France, Germany and the UK. We propose a new measure of directors' independence, which adjusts for various links with the controlling family. While we find that conventionally defined directors' independence has no impact on the CEO succession decision, our corrected measure reduces the likelihood of the successor being another family member. There is also evidence that firms from France that are cross-listed in the UK or USA are less likely to appoint another family CEO.

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KW - Corporate control and ownership

KW - Corporate governance

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KW - G32

KW - G34

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The determinants of the CEO successor choice in family firms

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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