Do Families Shaped Corporate Governance Structure?
This paper aims to analyse the differences between corporate governance structures of family firms and that of non-family firms. In addition, whether different family ownership configurations affect family firm corporate governance structures is also examined. The sample contains 132 non-financial companies traded on the Madrid Stock Exchange. The number of family firms amounts to half of the sample firms. It is found that Spanish family firm boards tend to be dominated by insiders who are mostly family members. In addition, Chairman tenure is longer in family firms than that in non-family firms. Moreover, family firms have a smaller board size and less board committees. In the auditing and executive committees of family firms, the percentage of executive directors is also higher. For family ownership configuration, its link to board characteristics is not supported by this study. Pyramidal structure, which is considered as facilitating the expropriation of minority shareholder wealth,
