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Journal of Corporate Finance Vol. 16 No. 1 2010

Board of directors' responsiveness to shareholders: Evidence from shareholder proposals

Yonca Ertimur1; Fabrizio Ferri2; Stephen Stubben3

1 Duke University · 2 Harvard University · 3 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Abstract

In recent years boards have become significantly more likely to implement non-binding, majority-vote (MV) shareholder proposals. Using a sample of 620 MV proposals between 1997 and 2004, we find that shareholder pressure (e.g., the voting outcome and the influence of the proponent) and the type of proposals are the main determinants of the implementation decision, while traditional governance indicators do not seem to affect the decision. We then examine the labor market consequences of the implementation decision for outside directors and find that directors implementing MV shareholder proposals experience a one-fifth reduction in the likelihood of losing their board seat as well as other directorships.

DOI
10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2009.07.005
Volume
16
Issue
1
Pages
53-72
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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