Should chairman and CEO be separated? : leadership structure and firm performance in Switzerland

We investigate the valuation effects of leadership structure in Switzerland where, in contrast to the U.S., a separation of the CEO and chairman functions is common. Consistent with the majority of prior research focusing on the U.S., we find no evidence of a systematic and significant difference in valuation between firms with combined and firms with separated functions. We also investigate whether the leadership structure is related to firm-level corporate governance characteristics. We find a curvilinear relation between leadership structure and managerial shareholdings that is similar to what we observe between firm value and managerial shareholdings. A possible interpretation is that the agency costs associated with a combined function are mitigated by a higher incentive alignment of the CEO/chairman through an adequate level of managerial shareholdings.