scholarly journals Do the Characteristics of Independent Directors and Supervisory Board Members Matter in China?

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongmei Xu ◽  
Jiang Lin

This paper investigates and compares the characteristics of independent directors and supervisory board members in Chinese listed firms. The occupational backgrounds of independent directors and supervisory board members in listed firms are very different. Besides, different firms have different preferences in employing independent directors and supervisory board members according to their demands. Moreover, the empirical results show that characteristics of independent directors and supervisory board members have no clear relationship with firm performance. No matter their professional backgrounds or age, the independent directors and supervisory board members do not have the authority to affect the decision making process of management. Thus they cannot really contribute to firm performance.

2018 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 1117-1155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariassunta Giannetti ◽  
Mengxin Zhao

We proxy for board members’ opinions and values using directors’ ancestral origins and show that diversity has costs and benefits, leading to high performance volatility. Consistent with the idea that diverse groups experiment more, firms with ancestrally diverse boards have more numerous and more cited patents. In addition, their strategies conform less to those of the industry peers. However, firms with greater ancestral diversity also have more board meetings and make less predictable decisions. These findings suggest that diversity may lead to inefficiencies in the decision-making process and conflicts in the boardroom.


2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (05) ◽  
pp. 1850040 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne W. Fuller

This paper looks at the vital role of industrial research and development (R&D). The increased outsourcing of industrial R&D is contrasted with a resource-based view of competitive advantage which maintains capabilities that are valuable, rare, imitable, and non-substitutable (VRIN), and should be internalized in the firm. Traditional business formation literature is also supportive of keeping R&D “inhouse”. R&D outsourcing research is leveraged to posit possible reasons for the increased amount of outsourced R&D. Testable propositions are included that look at factors for R&D outsource decisions and also the impact of these decisions on firm performance. An R&D entropy statistic is introduced as well as several R&D characteristics useful in the decision-making process to create R&D.


2016 ◽  
Vol 236 (4) ◽  
pp. 427-453
Author(s):  
Katrin Scharfenkamp

Abstract Building on arguments to political incomes, career concerns and elitist networks, this study assumes that an increasing percentage of highly incentivized former executive board members within the German Federal Government (1957–2012) will decrease the top earners’ average income tax rate during the subsequent year. Conversely, the percentage of lower incentivized former supervisory board members is assumed to increase the top earners’ average income tax rate. Both effects are assumed to be enforced if the ruling parties have strong support in the German Bundestag. The empirical results significantly confirm the unconditional effect for former executive board members and the conditional effect for former supervisory board members. Corresponding to sociological findings (see Hartmann 2002, Der Mythos von den Leistungseliten. Frankfurt a.M., Campus) and building on Barro’s (1973, The Control of Politicians: An Economic Model. Public Choice 14(1): 19–42) approach to the selfish maximization of political income and arguments regarding career concerns from principal agent theory (see, e. g. Fama 1980, Agency Problems and the Theory of the Firm. Journal of Political Economy 88, 288–307), this study assumes a strong incentive for former executive board members in the German Federal Government (1957–2012) to maximize their political income by lowering the top earners’ average income tax rate (1958–2013) due to their social elitist homogeneity and career concerns in terms of future job opportunities in business corporations. Conversely, former supervisory board members are assumed to increase the top earners’ average income tax rate due to their differing social backgrounds. Despite possible career concerns, they are assumed to increase the top earners’ average income tax rate in order not to lose their previously gained ideological credibility. Both effects are assumed to be enforced if the ruling parties have more than or equal to 55 % of seats in the German Bundestag. By running OLS and Tobit regressions, the empirical results confirm an unconditional decreasing effect of a higher percentage of previous executive board members and a conditional increasing effect of a higher percentage of previous supervisory board members on the top earners’ average income tax rate.


Author(s):  
Imani Mokhtar ◽  
Sharifah Raihan Syed Mohd Zain ◽  
Jarita Duasa ◽  
Azhar Mohamad

This study enhances the corporate governance literature by investigating the influence of blockholders on firm performance. Employing panel data estimations, this study works on a sample of 526 non-financial listed firms in Malaysia from 2006 to 2015. Overall, our findings reveal that firm performance is negatively associated with blockholders presence but positively related to blockholders total ownership concentration. Further examinations reveal that identity of blockholders matters in influencing performance of the firm. We also found that board governance mechanisms particularly independent directors and CEO duality play a significant monitoring role in relation to firm performance. More importantly, our findings are robust to a wide variety of performance measure which includes accounting, market and value based measures. Finally, findings of our study could facilitate the regulatory bodies and firm managers in promoting better and effective corporate governance in Malaysia. Investors may also benefit from our findings in understanding corporate governance of Malaysian firms and thus diversify their investment portfolios.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mejbel Al-Saidi

Purpose This paper aims to reduce the knowledge gap by using a large sample and different regressions while controlling the endogeneity and causality issues. Design/methodology/approach This study used the ordinary least square (OLS) and two stage least squares (2SLS) regressions to control the endogeneity and causality problems; this estimation strategy allows for comparison of both estimates to identify any inconsistency and biases in the parameters. Findings General speaking, this study found that board independence negatively affected firm performance based on Tobin’s Q only and the relationship between the two variables ran from board independence to firm performance but not vice versa. Originality/value The current independent directors are not adding value to Kuwait’s listed firms. Some directors who represent large shareholders and the conflict between large shareholders and small shareholders could affect the role of independent directors in Kuwait. To best of the researchers’ knowledge, this study is the first to consider board independent after controlling the issues of endogeneity and causality in Kuwait; thus, the results could be useful for Kuwaiti firms, regulators and policymakers.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 299-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lin Shao

Purpose The paper aims to provide a comprehensive investigation of the relationship between corporate governance (CG) structure and firm performance in Chinese listed firms from 2001 to 2015. The authors’ motivation derives from the fact that the CG system in China is different from those in the US, the UK, Germany, Japan and other countries. Design/methodology/approach A large unbalanced sample, covering more than 22,700 observations in Chinese listed firms, was used to explore, by means of a system-generalized method-of-moments (GMM) estimator, the relationship between CG structure and firm performance to remove potential sources of endogeneity. Findings Results show that Chinese CG structure is endogenously determined by the CG mechanisms investigated: there is no relationship between board size (including independent directors) and firm performance; CEO duality has a significantly negative effect on firm performance; concentration of ownership has a significantly positive influence on firm performance; managerial ownership is negatively correlated with firm performance; state ownership has a significantly positive effect on firm performance; and a supervisory board is positively correlated with firm performance. Practical implications The findings provide policymakers and firm managers with useful empirical guidance concerning CG in China. Originality/value Few integrative studies have examined the impact of CG structure on firm performance in China. This study adds new empirical evidence that the relation between CG structure and performance in China is endogenous and dynamic when controlling for unobserved heterogeneity, simultaneity, and dynamic endogeneity.


Complexity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Ren He ◽  
Mingdian Zhou ◽  
Jing Liu ◽  
Qing Yang

As global warming has received widespread attention, the disclosure of firms’ carbon information has been expected by increasing stakeholders. This study extends the previous literature on the determinants of firms’ carbon information disclosure by examining the influence of academic independent directors and Confucianism on the quality of carbon information disclosure. Using a sample of Chinese listed firms in the CSI 300 Index during the period of 2012–2018, our empirical results show that academic independent directors have a significantly positive association with the quality of carbon information disclosure. The results also reveal that Confucianism positively affects the quality of carbon information disclosure. Moreover, Confucianism positively moderates the relationship between academic independent directors and the quality of carbon information disclosure. The results imply that Confucianism, as an informal system, can promote the governance effect of academic independent directors on firms’ carbon information disclosure behaviour. Our findings offer shareholders, regulators, and other stakeholders an integrating perspective on motivating firms to disclose high quality carbon information.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 189-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mao-Feng Kao ◽  
Lynn Hodgkinson ◽  
Aziz Jaafar

PurposeUsing a data set of listed firms domiciled in Taiwan, this paper aims to empirically assess the effects of ownership structure and board of directors on firm value.Design/methodology/approachUsing a sample of Taiwanese listed firms from 1997 to 2015, this study uses a panel estimation to exploit both the cross-section and time–series nature of the data. Furthermore, two stage least squares (2SLS) regression model is used as robustness test to mitigate the endogeneity issue.FindingsThe main results show that the higher the proportion of independent directors, the smaller the board size, together with a two-tier board system and no chief executive officer duality, the stronger the firm’s performance. With respect to ownership structure, block-holders’ ownership, institutional ownership, foreign ownership and family ownership are all positively related to firm value.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough the Taiwanese corporate governance reform concerning the independent director system which is mandatory only for newly-listed companies is successful, the regulatory authority should require all listed companies to appoint independent directors to further enhance the Taiwanese corporate governance.Originality/valueFirst, unlike most of the previous literature on Western developed countries, this study examines the effects of corporate governance mechanisms on firm performance in a newly industrialised country, Taiwan. Second, while a number of studies used a single indicator of firm performance, this study examines both accounting-based and market-based firm performance. Third, this study addresses the endogeneity issue between corporate governance factors and firm performance by using 2SLS estimation, and details the econometric tests for justifying the appropriateness of using 2SLS estimation.


Author(s):  
Mohamed Marie ◽  
Hany Kamel ◽  
Israa Elbendary

AbstractThis paper investigates whether internal governance mechanisms were associated with the financial stability of Egyptian banks over the period 2010–2019. To this end, a GMM regression analysis was employed using 252 firm-year observations. The results, in general, indicate that the level of banks’ financial stability is positively associated with board size, board meetings, and board gender. In contrast, the results show that board education and the ownership of shares by directors are negatively associated with banks’ financial stability. More interestingly, our results demonstrate that higher financial stability is significantly associated with lower board independence, the presence of CEO duality, and fewer audit committee meetings. These striking results can be attributed to the argument that the presence of independent directors on the board may reduce the CEO’s willingness to share information with board members, causing a high level of uncertainty in the decision-making process, which ultimately leads to a reduction in the financial stability of their bank.


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