Agency, strategic entrepreneurship and the performance of private equity backed buyouts

Abstract

Agency theory has focused on buyouts as a governance and control device to increase profitability, organizational efficiency, and limited attention to growth. A strategic entrepreneurship view of buyouts incorporates upside incentives for value creation associated with growth as well as efficiency gains. In this paper, we develop the complementarity between agency theory and strategic entrepreneurship perspectives to examine the performance implications for different types of buyouts. Further, we study how the involvement of private equity (PE) firms is related to the performance of the post‐buyout firm. These issues are examined for a sample of 238 PE‐backed buyouts in the UK between 1993 and 2003. Implications for theory and practice are suggested.