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Corporate Ownership, Control, and Firm Performance in Victorian Britain

Author

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  • Acheson, Graeme G.
  • Campbell, Gareth
  • Turner, John D.
  • Vanteeva, Nadia

Abstract

Scholars have long debated whether ownership matters for firm performance. The standard view regarding Victorian Britain is that family-controlled companies had a detrimental effect on performance. In this article, we examine this view using a hand-collected corporate ownership dataset. Our main finding is that it was not necessarily the broad structure of corporate ownership that mattered for performance, but whether family blockholders had a governance role. Large active blockholders tended to increase operating performance, implying that they reduced managerial expropriation. Contrastingly, we find that directors who were independent of large owners were more likely to increase shareholder value.

Suggested Citation

  • Acheson, Graeme G. & Campbell, Gareth & Turner, John D. & Vanteeva, Nadia, 2016. "Corporate Ownership, Control, and Firm Performance in Victorian Britain," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 76(1), pages 1-40, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:76:y:2016:i:01:p:1-40_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Hannah, Leslie & Foreman-Peck, James S., 2023. "Business Forms and Business Performance in UK Manufacturing 1871-81," MPRA Paper 119447, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Maria Aluchna & Tomasz Kuszewski, 2021. "Do Financial Investors Mitigate Agency Problems? Evidence from an Emerging Market," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(2), pages 872-888.
    3. van Hombeeck, Carlos Eduardo, 2020. "An exorbitant privilege in the first age of international financial integration?," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    4. B. Zorina Khan, 2017. "Related Investing: Corporate Ownership and Capital Mobilization during Early Industrialization," NBER Working Papers 23052, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Turner, John D., 2024. "Three centuries of corporate governance in the UK," QUCEH Working Paper Series 24-01, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's University Centre for Economic History.

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