In many instances, “independently-minded” top-ranking executives canimpose strong discipline on their CEO, even though they are formally underhis authority. This paper argues that the use of such a disciplining mechanismis a key feature of good corporate governance.We provide robust...

We look at the corporate performance of family firms listed on the Frenchstock exchange between 1994 and 2000. On the French stock market, approximatelyone third of the firms are widely held, another third are founder controlledand the remaining third are heir controlled family firms. We find...