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This paper is based upon the initial findings of a CIMA research project into the way in which corporate performance measurement systems are influenced by the use of shareholder value management techniques. It compares and contrasts the techniques in use in a sample of 10 companies that either explicitly use shareholder value techniques also known as Value‐Based Management (VBM), or explicitly do not use such techniques. The analysis undertaken is based upon the finding of semi‐structured interviews with company representatives which formed the first part of the data collection process of the project. The analysis traces the interactions between corporate objectives, decision making criteria, performance measurement systems and executive incentive schemes in order to develop an understanding of the effects of such shareholder value techniques upon corporate behaviour. The literature reviewed suggests that the other aspects of the planning and control system should be aligned with the corporate objectives whether a company has adopted VBM or not. Therefore this research contributes new evidence on the use of VBM techniques in the UK and also more generally on whether VBM and non‐VBM companies internal planning and control systems are aligned.

This study aims to answer two unique related questions on the overarching relationship between a CEO’s personal religious affiliation, the firm’s advertising spending decision and its shareholder value. First, does the CEO’s religious affiliation, a proxy for risk taking, influence the firm’s advertising spending decision? Second, does the advertising spending decision mediate the relationship between the CEO’s religious affiliation and the firm’s shareholder value?

This study uses data on the religious affiliations of CEOs of publicly listed US firms, 1992–2014, from Marquis Who’s Who; advertising spending and shareholder value from Compustat, and panel data-based regression models including CEO characteristics from ExecuComp, and firm-, industry- and time-based controls.

We find higher advertising spending levels for Protestant over Catholic-led firms, and advertising spending mediates the relationship between a CEO’s religious affiliation and the firm’s shareholder value.

Marketing theory needs to incorporate the missing but fundamental effect of the CEO’s religious affiliation-based values on decisions and outcomes.

Boards of Directors may need to align the CEO’s and their firm’s spending goals.

While previous studies focused on the influence of religious affiliation on consumers’ attitudes and behavior, and executives’ financial and R&D spending decisions, this study, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, is the first to investigate the effect of a CEO’s religious affiliation on the firm’s advertising spending decision and its shareholder value.

This paper seeks to elaborate on how subject positions promoting shareholder value are infused with an outcome focus.

The study employs Foucault's perspectives on government and the interrelations between objectivity and subjectivity in the analysis of in‐depth case data gathered in one shareholder value‐oriented‐listed company and one non‐listed company.

The outside financial market discipline that objectifies shareholder value‐oriented company executives makes them subjects in their own organisation, allowing them to redirect discipline onwards and thereby objectify their subordinates. The non‐listed company executives, due to the relatively closed governance structure of their company and the lack of outside ownership, are not subject to such continuous outside discipline; they lack the same access to the means to create tangible outcomes within their organisations. The subject positions promoting shareholder value are focused on outcomes, whereas the non‐listed company subject positions are focused on processes.

The subject positions of actors within different types of non‐listed companies and listed companies without a shareholder focus form a target for future studies.

The study contributes to the literatures on manager subject position formation and shareholder value. These contributions are achieved by uncovering a novel consequence of subject position formation and by revealing a mechanism by which outcome focus is tied with shareholder value.

The paper aims to assess the impact of corporate strategy on shareholder value in decline and turnaround situations.

A sample of 45 turnaround firms was selected and matched against a control sample which did not face continuous decline over the time period studied. The impact of corporate strategy on shareholder value was tested using cumulative beta excess return measures to capture the long‐term basis of corporate strategy.

The paper finds that the beta excess return measures captured the hypothesized relationships between strategy and shareholder value for the sample firms studied.

Beta excess return measures are superior to case studies or event studies for identifying the long‐term effects of corporate strategy.

Relatively few studies have compared the strategies of turnaround firms with a matched sample of non‐declining firms. The use of cumulative beta excess returns to assess long‐term valuation of corporate strategy is original.

Momentum is gaining among major corporations to use the shareholder value approach to planning. This approach enables management to test alternative strategies and select that combination of strategies that creates the most value for shareholders. The authors describe how microcomputer software designed by a company called Alcar can be used by managers to incorporate the shareholder value approach in their strategic planning process.

Shareholder value must remain central to the attention of corporate real estate officers (CREOs), even though senior executives have a number of competing agendas. One reason for this is that shareholder value is a vital performance indicator for any important ancillary service; another is that CREOs can help to improve shareholder’s wealth in a unique way. It is well known that occupancy costs directly affect the net earnings of the firm and thus the extent of any surplus it can generate over the annual charge for the use of capital. Occupancy costs also influence how large that charge for resources should be in the first place. Firms pay investors for the use of capital but, in efficient capital markets, the cost is only related to the risk that investors cannot remove by holding a basket of shares. This risk is the intrinsic variability of the cashflows derived from the activities of the firm. This variability is in turn influenced by the amount of company borrowing and by the ratio of fixed to variable costs. Even after allowing for the effect of gearing, the investor’s likely returns are determined by the amount of fixed costs required to generate sales revenues. This is important to CREOs because occupancy costs are a large proportion of most fixed costs. CREOs can therefore influence shareholder value both by the volume of all occupancy costs and by the proportion of fixed costs or leverage that their decisions incur. An indicator of the degree of real estate leverage (DREL) could therefore be a very valuable tool for CREOs. It would also give them more influence in key financial decisions and should raise more interest in real estate issues among shareholders and senior executives.

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to examine the relationship of the efficient management of shareholder value as the main objective of corporate governance systems with stakeholder theory.

Design/Methodology – The study uses data from 29 emerging market economies from 1997 to 2006. In order to control possible endogeneity issue, generalized two-stage least squares (G2SLS) and generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation techniques were conducted using country-level panel data.

Findings – The results provide evidence that the efficient management of shareholder value is strongly associated with managers' credibility, social responsibility, employment, and customer satisfaction, suggesting that emerging market economies should consider the interests of stakeholders for the efficient management of shareholder value.

Originality/Value – This is the first study of its kind that attempts to explore the association of the efficient management of shareholder value with country-level determinants of stakeholder theory.

Research Limitations/Implications – The lack of sufficient data is a major problem in international studies. This study also has some limitations in this respect as some emerging economies have not been included in the sample.

In this study, I explore the link between workforce downsizing and the predominance of a corporate governance model that espouses a shareholder value maximization principle. Specifically, I examine how top managers’ shareholder value orientation affects the adoption of a downsizing strategy among large, publicly traded corporations in the United States. An analysis of CEOs’ letters to shareholders indicates that firms with CEOs who use language that espouses the shareholder value principle tend to have a higher rate of layoffs, after controlling for various indicators of the firm’s adherence to the shareholder value principle. The finding suggests that corporate governance models, particularly those advocated by powerful organizational elites, have a significant impact on workers by shaping corporate strategies toward the workforce. The key actors in this process were top managers who embraced the new management ideology and implemented corporate strategy to pursue shareholder value maximization.

The purpose of this article is to synthesize the topics, conceptualizations and measurements of value-based management (VBM) and to suggest a research agenda covering its next evolution as sustainable governance.

The authors conducted a systematic literature review of 80 seminal studies published between 1979 and 2022. The authors synthesized the studies by their conceptualizations of VBM in an inductively developed framework.

The authors find that scholars explore diverse topics related to VBM with a prevailing focus on shareholder primacy. There is a paucity of studies that focus on the integration of shareholder maximization and stakeholder management practices. The authors explain which studies will form a promising foundation for advanced research on sustainable governance that will reach beyond current VBM research.

The authors' research agenda addresses new future topics on conflicting goals within and between shareholder groups, offers specific suggestions for using new research methods and untapped data sources for VBM and paves the way to substantially extend the boundaries of the firm in VBM research to include stakeholders, strategic alignment and new sustainability measures.

The purpose of this paper is to determine if there is a link between corporate shareholder value creation and economic growth. The first objective of this paper is to determine which specific shareholder value measurement best explains shareholder value creation for a particular industry. The next objective of the study is to establish, for each of nine different categories of firms examined, a set of value drivers that are unique and significant in expressing shareholder value for that particular category of firms. Lastly, the relationship between shareholder value creation and economic growth is tested.

To quantify and measure value creation, the paper investigates the various value creation measurements that are being applied. The next step is to ascertain whether various industries have different value creation measures that best explain value creation for the respective industries. Then, the value drivers of these specific value creation measures can be determined and their relationship with economic growth tested.

The results of this study indicate that each industry does have a specific shareholder value creation measurement that best explains shareholder value creation for that industry; for example, for five of the nine categories (industries) that were analyzed, market value added was found to be the best shareholder value creation measurement, but for capital-intensive firms and manufacturing firms, the Qratio is the best measure, while for the food and beverage industry, the market to book ratio was found to be a better measure of shareholder value creation than other measures tested. It was further found that an increase in corporate shareholder value creation is to the detriment of economic growth.

The contribution of the present study is its determination of a unique shareholder value creation measurement for particular industries. In addition, a specific set of variables per industry that create shareholder value is identified. Lastly, the important link between shareholder value creation and economic growth is exposed.