Corporate governance and performance: evidence from the Klabin case (2002-2020)

Resumo

This article analyzed the relationship between the corporate governance developed by Klabin S/A and the economic, operational and value performances revealed in the period from 2002 to 2020. First, we identified that corporate governance in Brazil is an incipient topic and that, therefore, it brings difficulties in the task of precisely correlating the development of a company's corporate governance system with the performance levels in question, even though a certain reasonableness was achieved in the R² values ​​obtained through the econometric models selected to describe the aforementioned relationships. Specifically, the econometric models explained, on average, 55% of the variation in ROE, 74% of the variation in EBITDA, and 26% of the variation in Tobin’s Q, providing a concise quantitative gauge of explanatory power. It is also observed that, although the company adopted good corporate governance practices with the aim of ensuring investor confidence in its future, these initiatives remained, to a large extent, subordinated to the decisions of the controlling family. This context allowed Klabin S/A to present clear signs of both entrenchment and alignment, reflecting the characteristic challenges of companies under family control.