| The study of the relationship between corporate governance and financial performance is an ambiguous theme. Several studies have focused on this topic by establishing a solid link between the firm performance and its ownership structure. However, empirical findings did not reach a consensus on the determinants of this relationship. This paper aims to investigate the impact of institutional ownership on the firm performance using a sample of 100 French start-ups for a period from 2004 to 2008. Our findings reveal that market liquidity affect significantly the relationship between institutions' shareholding and firm performance. |