Search results

This paper argues that certain CEO characteristics are a significant predictor of relative firm R&D spending and innovation performance and that executive boards need to be remain vigilant of their CEO’s performance by ensuring that they have the capabilities to drive innovation-led growth strategies.

The successful economic recovery from the global pandemic will be founded on the type of innovation-led growth that takes advantage of opportunities presented by a profoundly different competitive landscape. This paper demonstrates that certain CEO characteristics (age, education, career experience) are a significant predictor of relative firm R&D spending and innovation performance.

CEO performance is an increasingly important issue for many executive boards who are tasked with assessing whether or not incumbent CEOs and potential new CEO hires are equipped with the skills to drive innovation-led growth strategies. The findings will help executive board members and headhunting agencies to assess a CEO’s orientation toward innovation.

This paper presents a review of how certain CEO characteristics act as a predictor of relative firm R&D spending and innovation. It presents the main findings from both academic and business sources in a way that is easily accessible to executive boards, senior management and headhunting agencies.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of executive severance contract maturity policies on the likelihood of forced turnover and the length of tenure for CEOs who are forced from their positions.

The paper utilizes logistic and accelerated failure time models to test the hypothesis that severance contracts decrease information asymmetries resulting in an increased likelihood of forced turnover and a shortened tenure for those CEOs who are forced out.

The results provide evidence that fixed‐term severance contracts increase the likelihood of forced tenure and decrease the length of tenure for CEOs who experience a forced turnover during the period, while time‐independent contracts do not.

The limitation is the possibility that an omitted variable jointly determines the likelihood of the presence of a severance contract and the effect on forced turnover. Future research should investigate other possibilities beyond the CEO coming from outside of the firm.

The findings confirm that the maturity policies of severance contracts affect forced turnover. The results suggest that there may be a benefit in designing severance contracts to expire to encourage more efficient turnover of underperforming CEOs.

This paper contributes to the empirical corporate finance and accounting literature by differentiating between forced and unforced turnover when analyzing the effects of severance contracts and demonstrating that the time dimension of severance contracts may provide the desired result of encouraging the identification of CEO‐firm mismatches.

The paper highlights the strategic importance of being alert to the power of the language and words used by CEOs in their various communications – their CEO‐speak.

The paper employs a close reading analysis of several contemporary examples of one of the most significant genres of CEO‐speak – the CEO's annual letter to stockholders.

Four perspectives important for understanding corporate strategy are highlighted: the importance of CEO‐speak as a linguistic marker of CEO narcissism; the revealing nature of metaphors chosen by CEOs; the potential rhetorical potency that arises from the way CEO‐speak is framed; and the significance of cultural keywords.

Case examples, such as the close readings in this article, possess the strength of specific instance detail and interpretation, and the ostensible weakness arising from interpretation of small samples. But such research may provide for a reframing of conceptual perspectives and practical approaches.

The case examples and advice provided will help business executives and corporate stakeholders to monitor the quality of CEO‐speak, engage CEO‐speak more effectively for strategic purposes, and improve CEO text and leadership‐through‐language.

Readers are reminded of the power of CEO text, the benefits of subjecting it to greater scrutiny, and are provided with some practical, operational advice.

The purpose of this paper is to outline and discuss the main elements of the chief executive officer (CEO) that affect financial and non-financial aspects of companies. CEO reputation and corporate reputation and performance are intertwined concepts. It presents a conceptual framework, the “4Ps of the CEO branding mix”, and shows how they individually and collectively influence company reputation and performance.

An extensive inter-disciplinary research was conducted. Four primary elements of the CEO (performance, personality, prestige and persona) were identified that positively or negatively impact companies.

CEO reputation (prestige) can not only positively but also negatively impact companies and celerity CEO’s are no different. There are certain personality traits, such as honesty and humility, which are mostly associated with positive company outcomes, while other personality traits, such as machiavellianism and narcissism, seems to negatively impact companies. Certain aspects related to the CEO as a persona, such as CEO tenure (experience) and education, and also CEO’s physical appearance and facial expressions impact CEO’s image and, subsequently, company reputation and performance. Finally, this paper shows that CEO performance is more than company financial and market performance and includes aspects such as strategy execution or CEO succession planning.

The four ′P’s of the CEO branding mix provide a useful framework for CEO’s and the corporate communications department to developing a consistent and comprehensive CEO and corporate communication and branding strategy.

This paper contributes as it outlines the various aspects and elements which impact CEOs image and reputation. The four P’s serve as a useful framework for CEO’s as well as corporate communication departments to systematically measure and manage the CEO’s image and reputation and, consequently, company reputation and performance. It forms the basis for developing a consistent and comprehensive CEO and company communication and branding strategy.

Prior research has investigated determinants of CEO compensation. However, that research has been primarily limited to large firms. This study investigates the impact of CEO influence over the board of directors on CEO pay for both large and small firms. Additionally, other determinants of CEO pay for both large and small firms are examined. Results suggest that CEO influence over the board significantly affects CEO pay for large firms. However, we do not find the same evidence for small firms. Firm size is the prinmary factor of CEO pay for small firms. Evidence in this study suggests that CEO pay of large firms is mostly a function of CEO influence over the board, firm size and firm performance.

As a multi‐speed recovery from the downturn accelerates progress towards a multi‐polar world in which economic power is more widely dispersed, the emerging markets will play a critical role in the future success of multinational companies. The imperatives faced by companies seeking to secure their future competitiveness can be better appreciated through an understanding of the sustainability landscape, and this paper seeks to examine perspectives on environmental, social and governance issues from CEOs in the emerging markets.

The paper is based on extensive conversations with business leaders, both through the authors' work with leading multinational companies and their survey of over 800 global CEOs conducted in partnership with the United Nations Global Compact – the largest CEO study on sustainability to date. In the spirit of contributing to the debate on corporate sustainability, the paper presents the findings not as an academic submission, but rather as a reflective practitioner paper based on the authors' applied research. Their intention throughout is to faithfully report the views of the CEOs interviewed and surveyed, offering in places the beginnings of their own explanation of their results, and highlighting areas for future research and engagement by academics and educators.

As one looks towards the next decade, and new waves of growth, it is clear that CEOs are beginning to recognize the scale of the challenge they face in aligning sustainability with core business. They also recognize, however, that this transition will depend on the economy's most powerful force, business – and that, with immediate and sustained action, individual companies can play a critical role in building the foundations of a more sustainable economy. From the wide‐ranging set of interviews and survey responses, it seems that nowhere does this seem to be more keenly felt than in the emerging markets, and it is hoped that this is a timely and useful contribution to advancing the debate, with a unique insight into the views of CEOs and global leaders on what it will take to reach a new era of sustainability.

This paper, based on extensive conversations with an unprecedented set of leading global CEOs, presents perspectives of leading CEOs in the emerging markets. By examining the forces shaping businesses' response to societal demands and the challenges of corporate sustainability, the authors set out some of the ways in which business is responding – and some of the capabilities that will be required to secure companies' competitiveness on the journey to a new era of sustainability.

This study seeks to examine whether CEO duality further exacerbates CEOs' motivation of self‐interest to engage in mergers and acquisitions to increase their compensation.

Regression tests using CEO compensation as the dependent variable, and CEO duality, firm size and firm performance as independent test and control variables. The regression tests are used for various sub‐samples of the firms, those that merge and those that have CEO duality.

The results indicate that for merging firms CEO compensation is positively associated with firm size. However, this association is unaffected by CEO duality. For non‐merging firms, the results indicate that CEO compensation is positively associated with firm size and firm performance. CEO duality moderates the positive association between CEO compensation and firm performance.

This study is limited to the extent that it does not observe the deliberations of compensation committees in their setting of CEO compensation, but only examines the outcomes of those deliberations. A future area of research is to examine compensation schemes of merger/acquisition CEOs in the context of other government structures, such as board independence and composition.

Shareholders who desire to keep CEO compensation levels positively associated with firm performance may consider supporting the separation of the positions of CEO and Chairperson of the Board.

This study contributes to the literature by concluding that governance structure influences CEO compensation schemes and CEOs of merging firms command higher compensation in spite of governance structure and firm performance.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the dispersion stability and the wear properties of lubricating oil blends added with modified nanometer cerium oxide (CeO₂) at high temperature.

In this paper, CeO₂ was self-made and it was chemically modified. The dispersion stability of CeO₂ in lubricating oil was studied. And the wear test of lubricating oil blends added with modified CeO₂ was carried out at high temperature.

The results showed that CeO₂ was successfully modified by oleic acid and stearic acid. The dispersion stability of modified CeO₂ in lubricating oil was improved. Adding modified nano-CeO₂ with the concentration less than 50 ppm into the lubricating oil can improve the wear properties of friction pairs in different extent. With the increase of the amount of CeO₂, the wear properties increased first and then decreased. The lubricating oil blend added with 25 ppm CeO₂ has the best wear properties.

The raw material CeO₂ in this paper is self-made and its shape and size are well controlled. Research on the addition of nano-CeO₂ to the engine low viscosity finished lubricants is lacking. It is of great significance to study the dispersion stability and tribological properties of nano-lubricants under the new background of low viscosity of lubricating oil and close to the real engine working conditions. It has certain significance to promote the development of nano-lubricants for engines.

The paper aims to at CEO succession in light of regulations and post‐SOX dynamics.

The paper examines CEO succession in light of regulations and post‐SOX dynamics.

It has been increasingly argued that the formal CEO succession process is in disrepair. The post‐SOX dynamics described in previous sections promise to even further confound boards of directors' responsibilities for succession planning and execution.

The paper provides executives with information on issues boards must consider in succession planning.

The paper is of particular value to CEOs and other board members.

CEOs' compensation has received a great deal of attention in recent years. Some criticised that CEOs' compensation is not responsive to their performance, because some CEOs still received the same or more compensation even if their companies incurred losses. Others complained that the compensation received by some of the CEOs was so astronomical that it can not be justified with any rational explanations. Many also maintained that some CEOs do not care about employees' wellbeing and shareholders' interest in the determination of their compensation in view of the facts that many workers received pay cuts or declining compensation in real terms and are laid off in the re‐structuring of organisations in order for firms to become more competitive domestically and worldwide.