MORSe (Management and Organization Research Seminars): "CAREER DYNAMICS OF CEOs IN FAMILY AND NON-FAMILY FIRMS: AN OPTIMAL MATCHING ANALYSIS"
Institute of Management and Organisation
Start date: 27 November 2008
End date: 28 November 2008
27th of November
12.30-14.00
room 251
Carlo Salvato (U. Bocconi)
Abstract
This paper investigates the intact careers of 100 CEOs in family and non-family firms tracked from the year of graduation until the CEO position is reached. The aim is to understand whether CEO careers significantly differ between family and non-family firms, and between family CEOs and professional executives. Extant literature focuses on the family or non-family nature of the firm and of CEO successors. It predicts that agency problems prevail in favoring the appointment of family members and insiders as CEOs, and in granting them faster and quicker careers. The detailed analysis of the features of entire CEO careers offers a markedly different picture. It shows that the accumulation of human capital throughout a manager’s career prevails over agency considerations in predicting CEO appointments. These results are of both empirical and theoretical significance.