Corporate governance of German growth companies. Empirical analysis of the corporate governance quality and the structure of supervisory boards of companies listed on Tec-Dax

Abstract

This article analyses the importance of corporate governance for growth companies, derives specific requirements for them and evaluates the corporate governance quality for companies listed on Tec- Dax. Growth companies' characteristics imply a comparatively high importance of corporate governance due to a high level of business and agency risk. Several corporate governance elements are therefore particularly important for growth companies. Overall, the empirical results imply a high conformity of the Tec-Dax companies with the GCGC criteria with some exceptions for specific companies and criteria. But the analysis of the quality of their supervisory boards delivers a differentiated result as in some of the analysed companies the effectiveness of the supervisory board is questionable.