Organizational Identity and Performance: An Inquiry into Nonconforming Company Names

Mario Daniele Amore, Mircea Epure and Orsola Garofalo
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Mario Daniele Amore: HEC Paris
Orsola Garofalo: Copenhagen Business School

No 1495, HEC Research Papers Series from HEC Paris

Abstract: Choosing the right company name is challenging and may have major consequences for firm prospects. Drawing on the strategic conformity literature, we investigate the implications of “nonconforming” company names, i.e. foreign sounding and family-unrelated, for family firms’ performance. Consistent with the idea that such names endow the business with greater visibility and recognition, we find that nonconforming names are positively associated with financial performance. This association is stronger when the firm operates in an industry with a low share of nonconforming peers and a high share of eponymous peers, in a crowded product class, and is smaller than industry peers. Collectively, our analysis provides new evidence on the strategic implications of company names.

Keywords: Organizational identity; company names; family firms; performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G30 M10 M14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 47 pages
Date: 2023-10-26
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec
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Related works:
Working Paper: Organizational Identity and Performance: An inquiry into Nonconforming Company Names (2023)
Working Paper: Organizational identity and performance: An inquiry into nonconforming company names (2023)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ebg:heccah:1495

DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.4599161

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