The Impact of Ownership Structure on Corporate Performance in Transitional Economies

The relationship between ownership structure and corporate performance might be remarkably strong and in formative within transition economies. In this research, we explore this relationship, referring to the example of the Republic of Serbia. For that purpose, appropriate linear models have been fitted to the panel dataset compiled from financial reports of 2101 non-financial companies actively operating during the period 2008-2013. The results indicate that, after controlling for size effect, companies characterised by state, dispersed or/and foreign ownership have significantly lower profitability in comparison to their counterparts. We would argue that an intensified agency problem and lack of entrepreneurial spirit might be the root of the profitability problem.