An Empirical Examination of Family-Managed Firms and Non-Family-Managed Firms: Evidence from Malaysia

The purpose of this study is to explore the firm characteristics of family-managed firms in malaysian public-listed firms. selected firms were matched for size and industry before comparisons were made between the family-managed firms and non-family-managed firms. the data were collected using secondary sources. various firm characteristics were investigated. the findings indicate that firms managed by families have a significantly larger board size, higher number of non-independent directors and executive directors and their directors have significantly longer experience working in the firm. however, the results suggest that the directors of these family-managed firms significantly lack professional qualification and tend to have fewer meetings compared to those directors in non-familymanaged firms. the findings also indicate that the compensations paid to the executivedirectors of family-managed firms are significantly higher than those paid to executive directors of non-family managed firms. the results also suggest that these firms have not utilised their assets efficiently to generate sales compared to their non-family-business counterparts.