Ownership Structure and Corporate Performance from the Perspective of Ultimate Ownership: Evidence from Chinese State-owned Listed Enterprises

Abstract

This paper selects 850 state-owned listed enterprises from 2009 to 2014 in China's Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchange to explore the impact of ownership structure on corporate performance from the perspective of ultimate ownership, and takes the endogeneity of ownership structure into deeper consideration. The study finds that ultimate ownership has no significant influence on corporate performance in state-owned enterprises. The separation of two rights and corporate performance shows a significant inverse U-shaped relationship. Taking the institutional environment into account, the inverse U-shaped relationship only exists in areas with poor institutional environment. To a certain degree, there exists the endogeneity of ownership structure.