Executive Compensation Disparities: A Cross-Industry Analysis of Pay-for-Performance Alignment

The disparity in executive compensation structures is a core issue in corporate governance. Existing research mainly focuses on the company's perspective, examining its impact on company performance and stickiness, and more often concentrates on a single industry, lacking cross-industry systematic comparisons. This study selects leading enterprises from three major industries: technology (Apple/NVIDIA/Amazon), finance (JPMorgan/Goldman Sachs/BlackRock), and manufacturing (Boeing/Tesla/Lockheed Martin). Based on the 2024 executive compensation data disclosed by the SEC, a case comparison method is used to analyze the differences in job value. The research results show that the industry compensation models are significantly differentiated, with technology being equity-dominated, finance relying mainly on cash bonuses, and manufacturing adopting a balanced design. Moreover, the weight of job value varies significantly across industries, with technical positions in technology being close to that of CEOs, front-office positions in finance far exceeding those in the middle and back offices, and production positions in manufacturing not being lower than technical positions. Additionally, there are a few instances of premium for unique positions. Given that job value is determined by strategic resource control power, it is suggested that industry-customized compensation designs be adopted, with an emphasis on long-term incentives and risk hedging.