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The Role and Influence of Firm Founders

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Handbook of Top Management Teams

Abstract

The founder role is irrefutably essential to a well-functioning capitalist economy. The founding of new ventures fuels competition, delivers new products and services to the marketplace, and even creates entirely new categories of industry. In this article the key governance role of founder is conceptualised, and questions of how, why and when founders participate and successfully influence the firms that they found are addressed. In addition, recent academic results on the persistent influence of founder CEOs on governance and ownership arrangements, and stock valuation, are presented.

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© 2010 Teresa Nelson

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Nelson, T. (2010). The Role and Influence of Firm Founders. In: Bournois, F., Duval-Hamel, J., Roussillon, S., Scaringella, JL. (eds) Handbook of Top Management Teams. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230305335_29

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