The Ownership and Control of Australian Companies in the Interwar Period

Bibliographic Data

ID19213656
AuthorsGrant A Fleming (Continuity Capital Partners), Zhangxin Liu (0000-0001-9962-3854, The University of Western Australia – Perth Campus), David Merrett (0000-0003-0904-0474, The University of Melbourne), Ville (0000-0001-8314-6002, University of Wollongong, corresponding author), Simon Ville (corresponding author)
Year2026
Pages1-27
Publication date2026-05-11
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Business History Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0007-6805 • E-ISSN: 2044-768X
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0007680526101652
OpenAlexW7160869364
LanguageEN
Citations received1

We examine corporate ownership and control using a sample of 90 Australian companies in the 1930s. The interwar period was formative in Australia for the growth of corporations and share ownership, although investor protections and information lagged. We estimate the ownership share of the Board, separately the CEO/Chairman, and other significant blockholders. Our sources enable us to account for shares controlled indirectly through family ownership and related entities. This matters to our results, especially in identifying family firms. Board ownership was similar to the US and UK in the early twentieth century; but taking account of shares controlled through related entities changes the story to an insider system where ownership and control had not separated. Dual CEOs mattered and blockholders beyond the Board. The drivers of these patterns of ownership and control included the role of family firms, firm age and size, and the types of shares

Control (management) · Control sample · Corporate governance · Incentive · Insider · Period (music) · Sample (material) · Australian History and Society · Corporate Finance and Governance · Family Business Performance and Succession