‘Running in the Family’ The Evolution of Ownership,Control and Performance in German Familyowned Firms, 1903-2003

Olaf Ehrhardt, Eric Nowak and Felix-Michael Weber
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Olaf Ehrhardt: University of Applied Sciences Straslund und Humboldt University Berlin
Eric Nowak: University of Lugano
Felix-Michael Weber: Elephant Equity, Munich

No 06-13, Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper Series from Swiss Finance Institute

Abstract: In this study we analyze the evolution of ownership, control, and performance in German founding-family-owned firms over the last century. We employ a hand-collected matched sample of German stock companies founded before World War I and still in existence in 2003. Comparing family-owned and non-family-owned firms over the 100-year time-span, we are able to analyze a variety of variables including ownership, control, industries, bank relationships and performance, as well as the impact of intergenerational control transfers. We find that families are slow to give up ownership , and control of family businesses remains strong even after several generations. Family firms seem to outperform nonfamily firms in terms of operating performance, but performance declines over the generations.

Keywords: Family firms; performance; ownership; control; German stock markets (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G32 N23 N24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 42 pages
Date: 2006-09
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:chf:rpseri:rp0613

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