Ownership structure and firm performance : an empirical study of publicly listed firms in Germany

This paper examines the impact of ownership structure on firm performance of publicly listed firms in Germany. An ordinary least square regression model (performed with robust standard errors) was applied to investigate the relationship. Firm performance was measured by the return on equity, return on assets and a market value measure, Tobin´s Q. The results do not show a significant linear relationship between ownership structure and firm performance. Nevertheless, institutional investors that hold a stake of the total shares, tend to have a significant positive relationship with Tobin’s Q and a negative relationship with return on assets.