RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Escaping Zombiness: Does Corporate Governance Have the Elixir of Life?
A1 Rodríguez Sanz, Juan Antonio
A1 Vallelado González, Eleuterio
A1 Velasco González, María Del Pilar
K1 Corporate governance
K1 Zombiness
K1 Chief executive officers (CEOs)
K1 Firms
K1 5311 Organización y Dirección de Empresas
AB This study investigates the influence of corporate governance on firms’ transition into and out of zombiness.We underscore the beneficial role of external members in the corporate governance structureand long-tenured chief executive officers (CEOs) in facilitating access to the external resources thatfirms need to be successful. Using a sample of European listed firms over the period 2008–2018, weadopt a dynamic view of zombiness by identifying shifts in the state from zombie to non-zombie andvice versa. The results show that board independence is a twofold panacea against zombies, promptingzombie recovery and preventing healthy firms from becoming zombies. By contrast, leadershipindependence, materialized by separating the CEO and chairperson roles, hampers the recovery ofzombies, probably because the cost of lacking unified leadership may exceed the benefits of externaldependence minimization. Finally, the results suggest that longer CEO tenure helps healthy firmsavoid zombiness. When considering a broader array of stakeholders, government bailout programmesimpair zombie recovery, and stronger trade unions help healthy firms escape zombiness. Overall, thisstudy brings a ray of hope to the zombie problem and provides a better appraisal of when supportingzombies might be worthwhile vis-à-vis saving promising firms and bringing them back to life.
PB Wiley
SN 1045-3172
YR 2024
FD 2024
LK https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/67034
UL https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/67034
LA eng
NO British Journal of Management, 2024, p. 1-24.
NO Producción Científica
DS UVaDOC
RD 22-may-2024