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A strategy perspective on the performance relevance of the CFO

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  • Venus, Andreas
  • Engelen, Andreas

Abstract

Research on functional members of top management teams (TMTs) has increasingly drawn interest to the strategic management field over the past few years. Studies have documented the rise of the chief financial officer (CFO) to pivotal importance and considerable power within the organization. By adopting a contingency perspective and drawing on the coalitional view of the firm, we investigate whether and when a relatively powerful CFO in the TMT is beneficial to firm performance. Multi-source panel data on 292 US firms over the five-year period from 2006 to 2010 revealed that the positive impact of powerful CFOs on performance is strengthened by the degree of unrelated diversification and the firm's tendency toward Defender-type strategies but not by its degree of internationalization.

Suggested Citation

  • Venus, Andreas & Engelen, Andreas, 2012. "A strategy perspective on the performance relevance of the CFO," SFB 649 Discussion Papers 2012-021, Humboldt University Berlin, Collaborative Research Center 649: Economic Risk.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:sfb649:sfb649dp2012-021
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    power/resource dependency theory; top management team; finance function; chief financial officer; organizational politics and power; diversification; generic business level strategies; internationalization; panel data analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • M10 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - General

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