Familial Control, Size and Performance in the Largest French Firms

Contrasting with the traditional profit‐maximising economic theory of the firm where managerial discretion is unimportant, there is a growing volume of U.S. economic studies suggesting first, that the large corporation is characterised by a wide dispersion of stock ownership implying a separation of ownership and control; secondly, that the shift in control from owners to managers lead to firms' policies and performance conflicting with stockholders' interests.