Abstract
The corporate ownership and control literature (Dai & Helfrich, 2016; Aminadav & Papaioannou, 2016) has reported inconsistent findings in varieties of capitalism. The limited scholarship in developing economies has contributed to this problem, as much of the research in this field focus on developed economies. Thus, this paper primarily reviews the corporate ownership and control literature in Africa’s largest economy (Nigeria) and identifies future research directions. The article commences by undertaking an overview of corporations in Nigeria, followed by a discussion of corporate ownership in the country. The paper then assesses the market for corporate control in Nigeria, unpacking the major issues that frustrate the protection of minority shareholders’ rights in the country. The paper concludes by evaluating the relationship between corporate ownership and firm performance to promote a better understanding of the prevalence of concentrated ownership in the country’s corporate environment. In summary, this article recaps past works, integrates contemporary thoughts, and proposes new scholarly and contextual directions that researchers could explore to deepen the existing knowledge about corporate ownership and control.
Highlights
The corporate ownership and control concept is an important area of deliberation in corporate literature (Dai & Helfrich, 2016; Nakpodia, 2019)
Corporate ownership and control notion has sizeable implications for firm survival (Zeitun, 2009; Lakshan & Wijekoon, 2012). These contributions were motivated by Adolph Berle and Gardiner Means, in their 1932 classic titled The Modern Corporation and Private Property. They highlight the attractiveness of dispersed ownership among US corporations, where firm ownership rests with shareholders, but corporate control is vested in the hands of managers
Relying on the institutional attributes of the Nigerian business environment (Adegbite & Nakajima, 2011), this paper addresses three specific objectives
Summary
The corporate ownership and control concept is an important area of deliberation in corporate literature (Dai & Helfrich, 2016; Nakpodia, 2019). Institutional features contend with a myriad of challenges that often include weak legal systems, low corporate valuations, poorly developed, and illiquid stock markets (Nakpodia & Adegbite, 2018; Nakpodia, 2018) When corporations face these constraints in their domestic markets, a major outcome is that access to capital markets is restricted, thereby limiting the marketability of its equity to potential investors. The article reviews corporate ownership and control in Nigeria, highlighting how its practice in the country diverges from those of developed economies It evaluates the market for corporate control in the country, concentrating on factors that impede its performance and its effect on minority shareholder’s rights protection. The article concludes by reviewing the relationship between corporate ownership and corporate performance and articulating areas for further research
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