Blockholders and Corporate Governance

Blockholders and Corporate Governance

Alex Edmans

Series number :

Serial Number: 
385/2013

Date posted :

October 01 2013

Last revised :

October 17 2018
SSRN Share

Keywords

  • Large shareholders • 
  • governance • 
  • voice • 
  • Activism • 
  • exit • 
  • microstructure

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.

Published in

Published in: 
Publication Title: 
Annual Review of Financial Economics
Description: 
Vol 6: 23-50, December 2014

Authors