The existing literature provides rich evidence regarding the effect of ownership structure on firm performance in Eastern Europe and China. In this paper, using reported estimates in 208 previous works, we compare EU new member states in Eastern Europe, Russia, and China from this viewpoint. Meta-analysis of 4425 collected estimates reveals that state ownership has a negative effect on performance of firms irrespective of their location. While ownership by outside investors and managers is positively related to firm performance in these countries. It is noteworthy that managerial ownership in Russia has a larger impact than that in the new EU members and China despite of the arguments concerning insider-control and entrenchment problems of Russian firms. Nevertheless, the overall results obtained from the meta-analysis suggest that the association between ownership and performance is weak in these economies. The further improvements in corporate governance and business environments are necessary.
