Artsi Alanne

Paid to Perform: an Examination of the Relationship Between Ceo Compensation and Firm Performance in Nordic Companies Artsi Alanne

The aim of this work is to study the relationships between CEO compensation and organizational performance to achieve a better theoretical understanding of this phenomenon and to examine these relationships in publically traded Nordic companies. Theory on CEO compensation and firm performance was studied to develop a CEO Compensation-Performance Model, from which testable hypotheses were derived, focusing on the link between performance and compensation and the links between fixed compensation and short-term performance and contingent compensation and long- term performance. These hypotheses were then tested to examine the validity of the CEO Compensation- Performance Model. No significant relationships were found. There is a lack of a significant relationship between CEO compensation and firm performance in publically traded Nordic firms. This implies that the CEO Compensation-Performance Model does not hold true in the Nordic context.