EN
The main goal of this project is to explore and analyze the influence of women's presence in a firm’s
managerial positions and whether that can benefit the firm's performance, particularly the impact on
the financial performance of family businesses. Each year the number of women directors and CEOs
rises, but there is still a disagreement on whether female leadership can impact the financial
performance of firms. While some authors state that there is a positive correlation between female
leadership and a firm’s financial performance, others agree that their presence is nonessential to a
firm’s profitability, although still being an ethical and moral imperative. By analyzing existing
literature, this thesis aims to understand the impact women leaders have on the firm performance of
family businesses by studying the financial reports of four family-owned businesses: Coty Inc., H&M
Group, Merck Group, and Eramet S.A.