ABSTRACT
Combining agency-theoretical with organisational population ecology approaches, this article analyses which factors drive the survival probabilities of organisations of the same type – listed stock corporations – facing the same institutional environment over a long period of time. It presents results from a unique hand-collected data set starting with the 51 largest firms in Baden-Württemberg in 1940 and follows their evolution for five time points from 1949 until 2007. Through an econometric survival analysis it is found that (i) the presence of multiple blockholders; (ii) a healthy capital structure (capital gearing); and (iii) the number of subsidiaries all have a positive impact on the probability of survival of the companies in our sample. To complement the findings from the survival analysis three exemplified anecdotal case studies are presented as narratives which are supportive of the general findings.
