Sebastian Toppari receives the Matti Koiranen Award from the Federation of Family Businesses

The Federation of Family Businesses has awarded the 2024 Matti Koiranen Prize to two outstanding Master's theses. The award-winning works provide diverse and high-quality insights into the management and brand communication of family-owned businesses.

The prize is awarded to Sebastian Toppari, a student who studied in the School of Business's Master of Accounting programme, for his Master’s thesis: Family Matters: Investigating Agency Problems Through CEO Compensation in Finnish Listed Family Firms – Empirical Evidence on Entrenchment and Alignment in Corporate Governance. The Master’s thesis was supervised by Assistant Professor Bianca Beyer.

The Federation of Family Businesses thanks Sebastian Toppari for a theoretically strong and empirically rigorous thesis. Its conclusions will help family businesses to improve their governance practices and reward systems.

‘A big thank you to the Federation of Family Businesses for this recognition,’ says Sebastian Toppari. ‘Those interested in the topic can also read my blog post (in Finnish) on the Federation of Family Businesses' website: Kohtuullisuus korostuu perheyritysten johdon palkitsemisessa,’ Sebastian continues.

The other student to receive the award is Nea Backström from the Hanken School of Economics.

Since 2013, the Federation of Family Businesses has awarded the Matti Koiranen Prize, awarded by Professor Emeritus of the University of Jyväskylä, to high quality Master's and PhD theses on family entrepreneurship or family ownership. The prize is worth €500.

The Federation of Family Businesses represents Finnish family businesses and their owners and promotes their role in society. The 500 member companies of the Federation of Family Businesses employ a total of around 180 000 people. The average member company has a turnover of around €10 million and its combined turnover is €40.5 billion.