The aim of this research work is to explore whether CEOs have the ability to affect the performance of the firms they manage and,if yes,to what extent.To do so,the analysis focuses on 61 listed companies operating in three identified sectors and based in four of the largest European economies – Germany,France,Italy and Spain – over a 21-year period ranging from 1998 to 2018.The time span was purposefully selected in order to be centered around the 2008 financial crisis.In fact,this thesis investigates the mentioned relationship not only at an aggregate level,but also by looking at three different factors: the effect of the most important macroeconomic shock of this millennium,country specificities and industry specificities.The analysis,performed on 140 CEO turnovers,investigates the firm performance in the two years prior and two years following the turnover.Expanding on the existing literature,for the first time five different performance metrics are used,in order to provide more data points and thus produce more reliable results: operating return on asset,market share,operating margin,quick ratio and debt-to-equity ratio.For each of such metrics,three separate sets of results are obtained: unadjusted,industry-adjusted and group-adjusted measures.The results,which present some inconsistencies,show an overall lack of correlation between firm performance and CEO turnover prior to the turnover itself,while providing evidence of CEOs ability in improving company performance in the years following their appointment.Evidence is found that the 2008 financial crisis affected the level of influence CEOs exert on the company performance.Finally,country and industry differences are found,with Italian and Food & Beverage companies being more dependent on their CEOs compared to the firms operating in other countries and industries.