Janis Berzins

Berzins, Janis & Pajuste, Anete (2024)

Family firm successions: First-generation transitions in Latvia

Finance Research Letters, 64 Doi: 10.1016/j.frl.2024.105410

We examine the emergence, succession, and performance of the initial cohort of family firms in Latvia. Latvia offers a natural setting to examine succession challenges faced by first-generation firms because a majority of these firms were established shortly after the country regained independence in the early 1990s. Our findings indicate that in 44% of sample firms the founding family did not have a majority stake at incorporation, but accumulated a majority stake over the first few years (1991–1999). It takes seven years for the average family ownership stake to exceed 75% and 23 years for firms with second-generation owners to reach 16% of the sample. Notably, approximately 80% of the sample firms are still majority-owned and managed by their founders. In line with previous research, we find that family firms outperform nonfamily firms by 3.1

Bøhren, Øyvind & Berzins, Janis (2020)

Innlegg: Overselger studie om formuesskatt

Dagens næringsliv

Berzins, Janis; Bøhren, Øyvind & Stacescu, Bogdan (2019)

Dividends and taxes: The moderating role of agency conflicts

Journal of Corporate Finance, 58, s. 583- 604. Doi: 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2019.07.003 - Fulltekst i vitenarkiv

We find that potential conflicts between majority and minority shareholders strongly influence how dividends respond to taxes. When the controlling shareholder has a smaller stake, the incentives to extract private benefits are stronger – a shareholder conflict that can be mitigated by dividend payout. We study a large and clean regulatory shock in Norway that increases the dividend tax rate for all individuals from 0% to 28%. We find that dividends drop less the higher the potential shareholder conflict, suggesting that dividend policy trades off tax and agency considerations. The average payout ratio falls by 30 percentage points when the conflict potential is low, but by only 18 points when it is high. These lower dividends cannot be explained by higher salaries to shareholders or diverse liquidity needs. We also observe a strong increase in indirect ownership of high-conflict firms through tax-exempt holding companies and suggest policy implications for intercorporate dividend taxation.

Berzins, Janis; Bøhren, Øyvind & Stacescu, Bogdan (2018)

The under-researched family firm: New insights from unique Norwegian data

Sasson, Amir (red.). At the Forefront, Looking Ahead: Research-Based Answers to Contemporary Uncertainties of Management

Berzins, Janis; Bøhren, Øyvind & Stacescu, Bogdan (2018)

Shareholder conflicts and dividends

Review of Finance, 22(5), s. 1807- 1840. Doi: 10.1093/rof/rfx046 - Fulltekst i vitenarkiv

We examine how dividend policy is used to mitigate potential conflicts of interest between majority and minority shareholders in private Norwegian firms. The average payout is 50% higher if the majority shareholder’s equity stake is 55% (high conflict potential) rather than 95% (low conflict potential). Such minority-friendly payout is also associated with higher subsequent minority shareholder investment. These results suggest that controlling shareholders voluntarily use dividends to reduce agency conflicts and build trust, rather than opportunistically preferring private benefits to dividends. We show that our results are unlikely to arise from liquidity or signaling motives.

Berzins, Janis; Ribe, Marcus, Stacescu, Bogdan & Sveistrup, Kasper (2025)

Oppdrett er blitt mindre attraktivt

Finansavisen [Kronikk]

Bøhren, Øyvind; Berzins, Janis, Stacescu, Bogdan, Josefsen, Morten & Steen, Pål Erik (2013)

Høyt utbytte gir mindre konflikter

BI Business Review [Kronikk]

Bøhren, Øyvind; Berzins, Janis, Stacescu, Bogdan, Josefsen, Morten & Steen, Pål Erik (2013)

Høyt utbytte - lavt konfliktnivå

Dagens næringsliv [Kronikk]

Berzins, Janis & Bøhren, Øyvind (1)

Innlegg fra BI-forskere: Økt formuesskatt på bolig i 2006–2010 svekket familiebedrifter

Dagens næringsliv [Kronikk]

Berzins, Janis; Bøhren, Øyvind & Stacescu, Bogdan (1)

Makt og styring i familiebedrifter

Dagens næringsliv [Kronikk]

Stacescu, Bogdan & Berzins, Janis (2025)

An Overview of Norwegian Firms

[Report]. Center for Corporate Governance Research.

Stacescu, Leon Bogdan; Berzins, Janis & Bøhren, Øyvind (2024)

Illiquid Owners and Firm Behavior

[Academic lecture]. 23rd Workshop on Corporate Governance and Investment.

Berzins, Janis; Miglietta, Salvatore, Gautam, Himal & Stacescu, Leon Bogdan (2024)

Family firms and employment

[Academic lecture]. European Accounting Association Congress.

Berzins, Janis; Bøhren, Øyvind & Stacescu, Bogdan (2019)

Shareholder illiquidity and firm behavior: Financial and real effects of the personal wealth tax in private firms

[Academic lecture]. CICF.

Berzins, Janis; Bøhren, Øyvind & Stacescu, Bogdan (2019)

Shareholder illiquidity and firm behavior: Financial and real effects of the personal wealth tax in private firms

[Academic lecture]. Baltic Economic Association Conference.