DOI: 10.1051/ejess:2001117


European Journal of Economic and Social Systems 15 N° 2 (2001) 85-107

Ownership structure and the performance of firms: Evidence from France

Éric Séverin

Université de Lille 2, ESA-Laboratoire du Germe, 1 Place Déliot, BP 381, 59020 Lille Cedex. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Abstract
This paper deals with the influence of ownership structure, variables of external and organisational discipline on financial and economic performance. By means of self-organising maps, in particular Kohonen maps, we highlight three main results. Firstly, the results obtained from a sample of French companies are consistent with the findings of Morck, Shleifer and Vishny (1988), McConnell and Servaes (1990) and Short and Keasey (1999) and suggest a non-linear relation between ownership structure and performance. Secondly, the variables of external discipline, that is leverage and stock-turnover, partly explain performance. Although debt level negatively influences performance (Opler and Titman, 1994), conversely, stock-turnover has a beneficial impact on performance (Charreaux, 1997). Finally, though the organisational variables seem to have no significant impact on performance, corporate size has a positive influence on performance.

Key words: Ownership structure, performance, self-organising maps


© EDP Sciences 2001