The Governance of Foundation-Owned Firms

Henry Hansmann; Steen Thomsen

The Governance of Foundation-Owned Firms

Henry Hansmann, Steen Thomsen

Department of Accounting

Yale Law School

Research output: Other contribution › Net publication - Internet publication › Communication

Abstract

A number of highly successful companies around the world are owned by foundations. Examples include world-class companies such as Bertelsmann, Heineken, Ikea, Robert Bosch, Rolex, the Tata Group, and Carlsberg. The so-called “industrial foundations” that own them are nonprofit institutions which typically combine business ownership and philanthropy, but give priority to the business goal. Contrary to the predictions of agency theory, foundation-owned companies are, on average roughly as profitable as investor- or family-owned companies. But how is it done?

Original language	English
Publication date	1 Mar 2018
Place of Publication	Cambridge, MA
Publisher	Harvard Law School
Publication status	Published - 1 Mar 2018

Access to Document

https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2018/03/01/the-governance-of-foundation-owned-firms/Licence: Unspecified

Handle.net

Persistent link

Cite this

@misc{bce6934ca5144aeab384910f4617c959,

title = "The Governance of Foundation-Owned Firms",

abstract = "A number of highly successful companies around the world are owned by foundations. Examples include world-class companies such as Bertelsmann, Heineken, Ikea, Robert Bosch, Rolex, the Tata Group, and Carlsberg. The so-called “industrial foundations” that own them are nonprofit institutions which typically combine business ownership and philanthropy, but give priority to the business goal. Contrary to the predictions of agency theory, foundation-owned companies are, on average roughly as profitable as investor- or family-owned companies. But how is it done?",

author = "Henry Hansmann and Steen Thomsen",

year = "2018",

month = mar,

day = "1",

language = "English",

publisher = "Harvard Law School",

address = "United States",

type = "Other",

}

TY - ICOMM

T1 - The Governance of Foundation-Owned Firms

AU - Hansmann, Henry

AU - Thomsen, Steen

PY - 2018/3/1

Y1 - 2018/3/1

N2 - A number of highly successful companies around the world are owned by foundations. Examples include world-class companies such as Bertelsmann, Heineken, Ikea, Robert Bosch, Rolex, the Tata Group, and Carlsberg. The so-called “industrial foundations” that own them are nonprofit institutions which typically combine business ownership and philanthropy, but give priority to the business goal. Contrary to the predictions of agency theory, foundation-owned companies are, on average roughly as profitable as investor- or family-owned companies. But how is it done?

AB - A number of highly successful companies around the world are owned by foundations. Examples include world-class companies such as Bertelsmann, Heineken, Ikea, Robert Bosch, Rolex, the Tata Group, and Carlsberg. The so-called “industrial foundations” that own them are nonprofit institutions which typically combine business ownership and philanthropy, but give priority to the business goal. Contrary to the predictions of agency theory, foundation-owned companies are, on average roughly as profitable as investor- or family-owned companies. But how is it done?

M3 - Net publication - Internet publication

PB - Harvard Law School

CY - Cambridge, MA

ER -