The impact of ownership concentration on firm performance: Evidence from an emerging market

The connection between ownership structure and firm performance has attracted significant attention especially in emerging markets, yet empirical evidence remains inconsistent. This article presents an analysis of the association among eight categories of ownership, Hirschman–Herfindahl index (HHI) index, Gini index, and firm performance in the emerging market of Pakistan. Some researchers argue that ownership concentration can improve firm performance by making the owners more willing or able to monitor agents. In contrast, others argue that in the presence of efficient markets, market monitoring will discipline the managers. Our results show that there is a significant positive association between ownership structure and both market-based performance measures and also economic profit. The ownership proportion of the institutional shareholding and foreign shareholding is also positively associated with firm performance.