U.K. Executive Compensation Practices: New Economy versus Old Economy

Abstract

This paper examines the executive compensation practices of listed U.K. retailing companies. We compare “New Economy” retailers (e-commerce/dot-coms) to more traditional retailers operating in the “Old Economy.” We also discriminate between recently floated retailers and their more seasoned counterparts. Using a sample of remuneration contracts for 549 directors in 72 listed U.K. companies in the New and Old Economies, we investigate the structure and level of executive (and nonexecutive) compensation defined as the sum of salary, annual bonus, and the values of executive stock options and long-term incentive plans (LTIPs). We investigate the extent to which the contract features are determined by firm characteristics, economic sector, and governance/ownership factors. In contrast to the U.S., where almost all executive stock options are issued at the money, there is a greater variety of practice in the U.K. with some options being granted substantially in the money. We therefore pay special attention to this U.K. institutional feature by producing a model designed to explain the crosssectional variation in the moneyness of stock options at the date of issue. We also examine the determinants of a number of other contract features. These are: the time to maturity of the executive stock options, the leverage of the compensation package, the ratio of long-term pay relative to short-term pay, and pay performance sensitivity. We find that differences in compensation arrangements can be explained to a significant extent by differences in firm size, growth/growth opportunities, firm financial policy, ownership characteristics, and governance arrangements. We also find some systematic differences between the compensation arrangements of CEOs and other executives.