The Influence of Ownership on Performance: Stakeholder and Strategic Contingency Perspectives

In this paper we extend the corporate governance literature by combining stakeholder and strategic contingency theories to provide an explanation of how owners influence the financial performance of firms. We hypothesize that ownership influences financial performance through three other variables: strategic orientation, organizational structure, and management style. Using LISREL analysis, we find this indirect influence to be significant. We also discuss implications for future research.