Governance Systems in Family SMEs: The Substitution Effects between Family Councils and Corporate Governance Mechanisms
研究家族委员会是否替代公司治理机制的作用，基于243家意大利家族中小企业数据，发现家族委员会部分替代了股东大会和董事会的所有权与监督职能。
The main objective of this paper is to explore the role of family councils vis-a-vis corporate governance mechanisms. Particularly, the paper explores whether family councils perform only their distinctive family governance role or if they also substitute for the roles performed by corporate governance control mechanisms. Based on a sample of 243 Italian family SMEs, our research findings show that the family council partially substitutes the shareholders' meeting and the board of directors in playing their respective corporate governance roles of ownership and monitoring. These findings are interpreted in the light of both agency and relational perspectives.