Corporate governance and firm performance: An analysis of ownership structure, profit redistribution and diversification strategies of firms in India

This dissertation examines the relationship between corporate governance and performance of firms in India. Utilizing various theoretical bases in strategy and finance domains, the dissertation attempts to distill a better understanding of the pivotal role played by the twin dimensions of ownership structure and business group-affiliation in influencing firm strategy and performance. In particular, three pertinent issues underpinning the corporate governance-firm performance relationship are probed. First, the influence of various shareholder ownership categories on firm performance and the reasons underlying their differential impact, second, the effect of business group-affiliation on firm performance and the impact of profit redistribution with regard to internal resource allocation efficiency and third, the impact of diversification strategies on firm performance owing to the heterogeneity among business group-affiliation characteristics. The analysis of the effects on firm performance of ownership structure, profit redistribution and firm diversification reveals the crucial role played by ownership heterogeneity and business group-affiliation characteristics in determining firm strategy, internal resource allocation and firm performance. Overall, the study represents an effort towards the larger objective of contributing to a more holistic understanding of how and why corporate governance matters in the performance of firms in emerging economies such as India.