The link between CEO compensation, CEO resource allocation decisions, and firm performance.

The relationship between the compensation (total and percent at risk) of 240 CEOs from 1986 to 1991, and several CEO resource allocation decisions (R&D, advertising, employees, business segments, and acquisitions) and subsequent firm performance was explored. The firms (Forbes-CEOs of the largest 800 public companies) had the same CEO for the entire period. The resource allocation decisions and the measures of firm performance (ROA, ROE, ROI, ROS, cashflow/sales, and stock return) were obtained from COMPUSTAT. The number of acquisitions was obtained from Mergers and Acquisitions.