Measuring and Explaining Management Practices Across Firms and Countries

2007/11/01 by Nicholas Bloom, N. Bloom, John Van Reenen +1 · 23 citations
Business, Management and Accounting · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · #Corporate Finance and Governance #Firm Innovation and Growth #Family Business Performance and Succession

paper · doi:10.1162/qjec.2007.122.4.1351

Abstract

We use an innovative survey tool to collect management practice data from 732 medium-sized firms in the United States, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. These measures of managerial practice are strongly associated with firm-level productivity, profitability, Tobin's Q, and survival rates. Management practices also display significant cross-country differences, with U.S. firms on average better managed than European firms, and significant within-country differences, with a long tail of extremely badly managed firms. We find that poor management practices are more prevalent when product market competition is weak and/or when family-owned firms pass management control down to the eldest sons (primogeniture).

Citations

• Inside the Family Firm: The Role of Families in Succession Decisions and Performance
• Measuring Expectations

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