Blockholders and Corporate Governance

54 Pages Posted: 27 Jun 2013 Last revised: 16 Oct 2018

See all articles by Alex Edmans

Alex Edmans

London Business School - Institute of Finance and Accounting; European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Multiple version iconThere are 4 versions of this paper

Date Written: July 25, 2014

Abstract

This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on the channels through which blockholders (large shareholders) engage in corporate governance. In classical models, blockholders exert governance through direct intervention in a firm’s operations, otherwise known as “voice.” These theories have motivated empirical research on the determinants and consequences of activism. More recent models show that blockholders can govern through an alternative mechanism known as “exit”—selling their shares if the manager underperforms. These theories give rise to new empirical studies on the two-way relationship between blockholders and financial markets, linking corporate finance with asset pricing. Blockholders may also worsen governance by extracting private benefits of control or pursuing objectives other than firm value maximization. I highlight the empirical challenges in identifying causal effects of and on blockholders as well as the typical strategies attempted to achieve identification. I close with directions for future research.

Keywords: large shareholders, governance, voice, activism, exit, informed trading

JEL Classification: D82, G14, G32, G34

Suggested Citation

Edmans, Alex, Blockholders and Corporate Governance (July 25, 2014). European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) - Finance Working Paper No. 385/2013, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2285781 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2285781

Alex Edmans (Contact Author)

London Business School - Institute of Finance and Accounting ( email )

Sussex Place
Regent's Park
London NW1 4SA
United Kingdom

European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) ( email )

c/o the Royal Academies of Belgium
Rue Ducale 1 Hertogsstraat
1000 Brussels
Belgium

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) ( email )

London
United Kingdom

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
3,664
Abstract Views
27,281
Rank
5,425
PlumX Metrics