Institutional theory suggests that informal institutions effectively constrain human behavior. Culturally embedded norms and values align corporate governance with socially acceptable outcomes. We argue that active foreign investors can act as agents of change in corporate governance....

This paper replicates and extends the empirical work of Boyd’s 1995 article: CEO Duality and Firm Performance: A Contingency Model. We retest Boyd’s hypotheses using a database of over 11,000 Swedish firms from the year 2005 to 2009. Similar to Boyd, we find that CEO duality is positively...

In this paper, we discuss three factors of critical importance for regional economic develop-ment, namely entrepreneurship, social capital and governance. We conclude firstly that the relationships between regional entrepreneurship, regional social capital, regional governance and regional...

Juridical-political theories suggest that legal origin (La Porta et al. (1997)) and political factors (Roe (2003)) matters for firm performance. In Scandinavia there are a number of legal practices, with common political roots, that impinge on the distribution of corporate control, which...

This paper investigates the entrepreneurial spirit in Swedish listed family firms. We associate family firms with entrepreneurship in the sense that there is an identifiable person that takes the uninsurable risk in the sense of Knight. This paper analysis two questions: Do entrepreneurial...

This paper investigates the link between institutional ownership and dividend policy. Utilizing a dividend payout model, which accounts for earnings trends and partial adjustments of dividends, a positive but marginally diminishing relation is found between institutional ownership and dividends....

Examining a large number of Swedish listed firms, this paper analyses how institutional owners affects the investment decisions and firm performance. During the last decades the ownership structure of Swedish firms has undergone dramatic changes: institutional and foreign investors have been...

Previous studies have shown that differences in corporate governance systems and both formal and informal institutions, such as traditions and laws appear to correlate with firm performance. It has been suggested that Scandinavia and South East Asia have similar ownership structures with...

This paper aims to provide a summarize review of recent empirical research, in the field of corporate governance and its relation to performance of firms. Specifically, the focus is on the role of institutional owners in the conflict between controlling shareholders and minority owners. The...

This paper examines how ownership concentration affects investment performance, and in particular how deviations from the one share-one vote principle affect this ownership-performance relationship. Using a unique panel from the Nordic countries the so-called incentive and managerial...