Corporate Governance and Credit Financing in a Developing Economy

Financial sector development is an influential force that outlines the financing and governance of firms in emerging economies. Suppliers and bankers represent alternative governance structures to a firm because of their trade credit and loan requirements, respectively. The continuous monitoring of investment by banks and suppliers impacts on corporate disclosure and practices. The study compares a sample of Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) firms listed on the Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) index which measures corporate governance and those not listed on the index. A Generalized Least Squares (GLS) random effect regression of banking sector development and trade credit of firms listed on the JSE SRI and non-SRI listed firms was done to ascertain whether trade credit gives firms a preferred governance system and structure. The findings affirm that good corporate governance practices improve access to bank loans for working capital financing and good governance practices do not consequently result in more bank loan as a preferred governance structure for working capital financing compared to use of trade credit.

This paper reviews the relationships between corporate governance and economic development and well-being. It finds that better-governed corporate frameworks benefit firms through greater access to financing, lower cost of capital, better firm performance, and more favorable treatment of all stakeholders. Numerous studies agree that these channels operate not only at the firm level, but also in sectors and countries—with corporate governance being the cause. There is also evidence that when a country’s overall corporate governance and property rights systems are weak, voluntary and market corporate governance mechanisms have more limited effectiveness. Importantly, the dynamic aspects of corporate governance—that is, how corporate governance regimes change over time and what the impacts of these changes are— are receiving more attention. Less evidence is available on the direct links between corporate governance and social outcomes, including poverty and environmental performance. T...

Corporate Ownership and Control, 2014

This paper reviews the theoretical framework of Corporate Governance and multiple issues in which it is evaluated such as agency costs, asymmetric information, insider trading, manipulation of earnings, Board of Directors, etc. Finally, it is reviewed the impact of Corporate Governance over cost of equity, capital structure and financial performance

This paper reviews recent research on corporate governance, with a special focus on emerging markets. It finds that better corporate frameworks benefit firms through greater access to financing, lower cost of capital, better performance, and more favorable treatment of all stakeholders. Numerous studies show these channels to operate at the level of firms, sectors and countries—with causality increasingly often clearly identified. Evidence also shows that voluntary and market corporate governance mechanisms have less effect when a country's governance system is weak. Importantly, how corporate governance regimes change over time and how this impacts firms are receiving more attention recently. Less evidence is available on the direct links between corporate governance and social and environmental performance. The paper concludes by identifying issues requiring further study, including the special corporate governance issues of banks, and family-owned and state-owned firms, and the nature and determinants of public and private enforcement. Burcin Yurtoglu WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management, email: burcin.yurtoglu@whu.edu. We would like to thank the editor, Jonathan Batten, Melsa Ararat, Craig Doidge and an anonymous referee for very useful suggestions. The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy.

Economics of Transition, 2008

We analyze the role of debt in corporate governance with respect to a large emerging economy, India, where debt has been an important source of external finance. Using cross-sectional data on listed manufacturing firms we estimate, simultaneously, the relation between Tobin's Q and leverage for three years, 1996, 2000 and 2003. Our analysis indicates that while in the early years of institutional change, debt did not have any disciplinary effect on either standalone or group affiliated firms, the disciplinary effect appeared in the later years as institutions became more market oriented. We also find limited evidence of debt being used as an expropriation mechanism in group firms that are more vulnerable to such expropriation. In general, our results highlight the role of ownership structures and institutions in debt governance.

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000

International Journal of Accounting and Financial Reporting, 2019

This paper examine the role of corporate governance on listed firm's capital structure decisions in developing economies, East African stock markets. To achieve the objective of this paper, we used a strongly balanced panel dataset of 320 observations (i.e. a sample of 32 non-financial listed firms in East African region from 2006-2015. Measures for capital structure decisions were short term debt ratio (STDR),long term debt ratio (LTDR) and total debt ratio (TDR) as dependent variables and explanatory (independent) variable was corporate governance practices measured by researcher-constructed index consisting of 28 corporate governance provisions ;thus the corporate governance practices index (CGPI). Furthermore, the effects of control variable such as firm size (SIZ), the level of economic development (GDP) and industry dummies were also examined. The panel corrected standard errors (PCSEs) regression model was employed for corporate governance practices and capital structure decisions to analyze the data. Our results indicate a statistically significant negative effect of corporate governance practices on capital structure decisions at 5% significance level. Our paper contributes to both literature and the practical implications, because our paper provides a first insight of the corporate governance practices and its effects on capital structure decisions for the East African regional stock markets. The paper recommends to securities markets regulatory authorities in East African region such as East 144 African member states securities regulatory authority (EASRA) and their respective countries securities markets regulatory authorities to stimulates new efforts towards better corporate governance practices to listed firms in the regional bloc due to its statistically significant effects on capital structure decisions and future study can be extended after considering external corporate governance mechanisms.

Journal of Business Ethics, 2002

Corporate governance reforms are occurring in countries around the globe. In developing countries, such reforms occur in a context that is primarily defined by previous attempts at promoting "development" and recent processes of economic globalization. This context has resulted in the adoption of reforms that move developing countries in the direction of an Anglo-American model of governance. The most basic questions that arise with respect to these governance reforms are what prospects they entail for traditional development goals and whether alternatives should be considered. This paper offers a framework for addressing these basic questions by providing an account of: 1) previous development strategies and efforts; 2) the nature and causes of the reform processes; 3) the development potential of the reforms and concerns associated with them; 4) the (potential) responsibilities of corporate governance, including the (possible) responsibilities to promote development, and; 5) different approaches to promoting governance reforms with an eye to promoting development.

The Economics of Transition, 2008

We analyze the role of debt in corporate governance with respect to a large emerging economy, India, where debt has been an important source of external finance. First, we examine the extent to which debt acts as a disciplining device in those corporations where potential for over investment is present. We undertake a comparative evaluation of group-affiliated and non-affiliated companies to see if the governance role of debt is sensitive to ownership and control structures. Second, we examine the role of institutional change in strengthening the disciplining effect or mitigating the expropriating effect of debt. In doing so, we estimate, simultaneously, the relation between Tobin's Q and leverage using a large crosssection of listed manufacturing firms in India for three years, 1996, 2000, and 2003. Our analyses indicate that while in the early years of institutional change, debt did not have any disciplinary effect on either standalone or group affiliated firms, the disciplinary effect appeared in the later years as institutions become more market oriented. We also find limited evidence of debt being used as an expropriation mechanism in group firms that are more vulnerable to such expropriation. However, the disciplining effect of debt is found to persist even after controlling for such expropriation possibilities. In general, our results highlight the role of ownership structures and institutions in debt governance.

Journal of Business Research - Turk, 2021

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between corporate governance and financial performance of companies, by looking at the magnitude to which publicly listed companies across Southern African countries have implemented corporate governance "best" practices. Design/methodology/approach-Corporate governance index was created by collecting both corporate governance related data and financial data from annual reports of companies from 2013-2019. Panel data was used with a set of 504 company-year observations. The corporate governance index and sub-indexes were used as independent variables in order to test their effect on company's financial performance measured by Return on Asset (ROA) and Return on Equity (ROE). The data was analyzed using Panel data Ordinary Least Squared (POLS) regression and dynamic GMM. Findings-The findings show that companies in Southern African countries generally comply with the recommended corporate governance "best" practices that are included in the index. The results from both the POLS and the dynamic GMM show that; the corporate governance index has a positive and significant relationship with the companies' financial performance measures (ROA and ROE). The results also shows that board committees' sub-index, Shareholders right sub-index and Disclosure sub-index are positively and significantly related to financial performance as measured by ROA and ROE. Discussion-Regulators and companies in Southern Africa should put more emphasis on issues regarding Shareholders rights, Board committees and disclosure requirements.