ABSTRACT

This study investigates whether ownership concentration improves or impedes firm innovation using a sample of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) spanning 95 countries worldwide. We find that higher ownership concentration is associated with a lower likelihood of introducing innovative activities. Further, results reveal that concentrated ownership has detrimental impacts on innovation for firms with a higher degree of asymmetric information and firms led by less experienced managers. We also show that the negative association between ownership concentration and innovation only exists for financially constrained firms (i.e., younger enterprises and SMEs with high financing obstacles) and those with the highly concentrated ownership structure. Lastly, evidence suggests that institutional development alleviates the negative impact of ownership concentration on innovation.

摘要

本研究使用遍布全球 95 个国家的中小型企业 (SME) 样本，调查所有权集中度是否会改善或阻碍公司创新。我们发现，较高的所有权集中度与引入创新活动的可能性较低有关。此外，结果表明，集中所有权对信息不对称程度较高的公司和由经验不足的经理领导的公司的创新产生不利影响。我们还表明，所有权集中度与创新之间的负相关关系仅存在于财务受限的公司（即年轻企业和融资障碍高的中小企业）和所有权结构高度集中的公司。最后，