Markus Stiglbauer

The discussion of companies’ compliance with corporate governance standards and codes has widely neglected the situation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Accordingly, the authors examine a sample of 151 SMEs listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in 2006 (before the financial crisis) and 2012 (after the financial crisis) and, thus, required to declare whether they comply with the recommendations of the German Corporate Governance Code or not. While code compliance seems to be quite homogenous comparing different branches, the authors found that company size has a positive impact on code compliance. With regard to a remarkably high number of recommendations a lot of companies do not comply to, company size might be a major problem, why the existing GCGC does not fit very well to the situation of SMEs. This is why, most remarkably, code compliance does not exert any significant influence on either market reaction or on operating performance of SMEs.

Keywords: corporate governance, SMEs, Germany, firm performance.
JEL Classification: G3, G34, M10, L25

The rise of MNCs, the expansion of the EU and several M&As have exposed German boards to a variety of cultures. But does diversity in the boardrooms improve performance? Based on an empirical study on German publicly listed companies, this unique research into cultural diversity answers the question if the level of cultural variety and cultural distance on boards of directors have an influence on firm performance in Germany. The results, which show a negative, linear influence of both cultural variety and cultural distance on operating performance measures, show empirical support for the importance of contextual factors in the relationship between diversity and performance. The authors ask for careful consideration before implementing regulations on board diversity.