30 research outputs found
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Investigating Factors Which Influence the Practice of Corporate Governance within the Kenyan Corporate Sector
This thesis examines the compatibility of Kenya’s (Anglo-American-originated) CG code with the country’s institutional environment. Its inspiration arises from researcher’s observation that Kenyan firms continue to experience various CG challenges despite the adoption of an international code of CG practices. The study is further motivated by analysis of existing literature, which identifies three important gaps in literature addressed in this thesis, namely: (a) scanty understanding concerning the applicability of foreign CG codes within LDCs institutional environments, (b) limited literature on CG in the context of Africa, and (c) insufficient qualitative CG research notwithstanding mixed results from quantitative studies. A multi-method approach was utilised in gathering data including: twenty-one interviews with representative CG stakeholders, field observations of six listed firms’ AGMs, and archival evidence (annual reports and corporate websites, records of AGM proceedings, official documents and policy publications). The study then employs thematic and content analysis to investigate factors which influence the practice of Kenya’s CG code within the corporate sector. This thesis’s findings demonstrate that despite the merits of the Anglo-American governance model, the present code of CG practice in Kenya is incompatible with the country’s institutional environment. Analysis of data establishes the source of this incompatibility as arising from various ambits including: highly concentrated ownership structure of firms, absence of shareholder activism, powerful traditional norms and culture, outdated corporate statutes and weak regulatory environment, and uncertainties within the country’s economy. Contrary to expectations following adoption of Kenya’s CG code, this thesis finds that Kenyan firms continue to experience severe CG challenges. These include erosion of shareholder wealth, bankruptcy risk, and conflicts between firms and local communities. This thesis makes as least two contributions to the theory and practice of corporate governance in developing countries, such Kenya. Firstly, it develops and tests a theoretical framework for examining the practice of CG in Kenya. The framework demonstrates that to understand the way CG codes are practiced in a developing country, requires awareness of factors which characterised the development of the code(s) along with the country-specific implementation process. Secondly, by providing empirical evidence of the incompatibility of the Anglo-American CG model in Kenya, the study reveals how the actions of CG practitioners are defined by a powerful institutional environment, including traditional customs and culture, notwithstanding the existence of explicit CG regulations developed internationally (e.g. in western countries). This was also found to be the principal cause for variance between the provisions of the CG code and actual practice. Finally, this thesis provides both immediate and long-term suggestions for policy. Immediate policy intervention may include a review of conflicting corporate sector regulations and adequate resourcing of relevant regulatory bodies. Long-term policy consideration should focus on reviewing the current CG code with due regard to the ‘ecosystem’ of firms to avoid tensions occasioned by the institutional environment; including conflicts with non-shareholding constituencies
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Governance of Banking Institutions in Africa: Perceptions of Leading Players Within the Kenyan Banking Industry
Following an agency theoretic approach, this study sets out to investigate how banking institutions in Kenya are governed, using primarily semi-structured interview data. The study is incentivised by inadequate research on corporate governance of financial institutions within emerging economies. Accordingly, the study adopts an exploratory research design seeking to understand how governance is perceived and practiced within banks, together with the impact of corporate governance on performance of the Kenyan banking industry. The findings suggest that corporate governance is perceived differently within various banking institutions. It also emerges that corporate governance is practised along four broad lines within banks in Kenya: (a) board governance; (b) influences from global stage; (c) auditing; (d) shareholders. The results also reveal that corporate governance as considered by participants, boosts the performance of the Kenyan banking industry along three performance yardsticks: (a) going concern value; (b) cost-income ratio; (c) return on earnings. The results evidence some differences between the local institutional characteristics and assumptions founding the Anglo-American corporate governance model adopted in Kenya; where banks with concentrated ownership exhibit mainly principal-principal conflicts rather than principal-agent problems. The study recommends two mandatory independent audits - half-year and end-year audits, in order to enhance the corporate governance mechanism of disclosure, and improve governance and financial performance
Value relevance of multinational directorship and cross-listing on MNEs national governance disclosure practices in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from Nigeria
We draw on institutional isomorphism literature to develop a conceptual framework which uncovers how emerging market MNEs manage institutional tensions and complexity in corporate governance (CG) regulations within and across economic environments. Using a sample of 400 firm-year observations (2011–2015) from Nigeria, we show foreign directorship and cross-listing as significant avenues for governance isomorphism. MNEs employ these mechanisms to manage and reconcile foreign and Nigerian CG regulations whilst overcoming institutional weaknesses at home. Specifically, governance isomorphism leads to improvement of home country CG disclosures practices because of associated linkages with international CG systems through cross-listing and employment of multinational directors
Detection of Bacillus thuringiensis genes in transgenic maize by the PCR method and FTA paper technology
We optimized the PCR method to detect genetically engineered Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) maize in open quarantine fields in Kenya. Many factors affect the extraction of the DNA from plants, such as the amount of tissue available, the condition of the plant material, the numbers of steps involved in the extraction procedure, and the required purity needed. We tested the application of the FTA paper technology for field sampling whereby leaf materials are not removed and transported from the site. We also applied the PCR method, a technique that is widely used for detection of genetically modified organism (GMOs). We used primers specific to the Bt genes present in the transgenic maize to screen for the Bt genes Cry 1Ab and Cry 1Ba
Anglo-American governance adoption in non-Anglo-American settings: assessing practitioner perception across emerging economies. The case of Cameroon, Kenya and Pakistan.
Purpose – Albeit the growing academic research on emerging economies corporate governance (CG) environments within accounting and finance literature, there exists a dearth of cross-country studies using a qualitative approach to understand practitioners’ behaviour vis-a-vis diffusion of international CG practices in emerging economies. This study aims to fill this oversight through a comparative analysis of the divergence and convergence of CG systems operational in three emerging economies (Cameroon, Kenya and Pakistan) while highlighting different institutional and contextual impacts on behaviour of governance actors. The paper uses an interface between critical realism and new institutional economics theory to explore the implementation and execution of CG in Cameroon, Kenya and Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach – The study analysed 24 in-depth semi-structured interviews and conducted with key governance practitioners across the three countries. Findings – The findings show that CG implementation processes in Cameroon, Kenya and Pakistan are nascent and driven by international forces rather than local initiatives. CG lacks institutional identity across the three countries as regulatory coercion acts as a key driver for CG adoption and practitioner accounts are mixed regarding the impact of CG on firm performance. Practical implications – The paper evidences that the lack of governance identify, compliance and slow implementation process of governance regulations and its impact on firm performance in emerging economies is caused by the fact that local institutional characteristics prevalent in these economies may not be suitable for a “copy and paste” of Western form of governance regulations. Furthermore, governance actors do not see the relevance of recommended CG practices except as a regulatory burden. Originality/value – The paper contributes to close the lacuna in the seemingly little qualitative comparative study that has examined practitioner’s perception vis-à-vis the diffusion of international governance practices in emerging economies. Specifically, it uncovers how different institutional and contextual factors impact on the behaviour of governance actors and how their behaviours may constrain adoption, implementation and compliance with recommended governance practices
Determinants of corporate cash holdings: An empirical study of Chinese listed firms
This study explores the determinants of corporate cash holdings in the Chinese context. As one of the largest developing countries in the world, China offers an interesting opportunity to explore the role of corporate governance, and ownership structure in explaining corporate cash holdings. Owing to the unique economic problems in the developing and emerging economies, this study aims to investigate whether the research findings on developed countries could be generalized globally. Applying fixed-effects estimations on a sample of 115 Chinese firms listed between 2012 and 2016, we find that the level of corporate cash holdings has a significantly negative relationship with leverage, bank debt, non-cash liquid assets and managerial ownership. In particular, cash flow volatility, investment opportunity and dividend have a significantly positive relationship with cash holdings levels. These findings are consistent with the majority of the existing studies carried out in the Western context. We also find that firm size, cash flow, board independence and ownership concentration have a significant influence on the level of corporate cash holdings. Our study contributes to the finance literature and we offer new insights into the relationship between corporate governance and corporate cash holdings in the Chinese context. Some of the findings on the developed countries could be generalized to a wider context. Further, the unique relationship between corporate governance and cash holdings in the Chinese context provides empirical insights for further research
Application of simple sequence repeats (SSRs) markers to study the resistance of locally adapted maize hybrids to damaging maize streak virus disease
Simple sequence repeat markers were used to study S6 recombinant inbred lines originating from a single cross between two inbred lines OSU 23i and EM12-210, for resistance to maize streak virus disease. A total of 115 recombinant inbred lines belonging to three families previously selected using conventional methods were screened using 52 SSR markers contained between Bin 1.04 and 1.05 of maize chromosome 1. Of these, only three markers were chosen on the basis of their polymorphism content for use in the study. This paper discusses the results of combined selection with both artificial inoculation and the three selected SSR markers. The use of artificial inoculation detected 78 resistant lines and 36 susceptible lines. On the other hand, the SSR markers detected 40 resistant lines, and 74 susceptible lines. But a combination of both the artificial inoculation and SSR marker selection reduced the number of resistant lines to 29 and increased the number of susceptible lines to 85. With these findings it was concluded that, a conventional maize breeder requires the use of molecular markers in order to improve selection intensity and maximize genetic gai
Analysing corporate governance and accountability practices from an African neo-patrimonialism perspective : Insights from Kenya
The authors thank the Editors of this Special Issue, including the Managing Guest Editor Dr Philippe Lassou, and the two anonymous reviewers for their insightful feedback and comments that greatly improved our manuscript. The authors are also immensely grateful to Professor Teerooven Soobaroyen for his useful suggestions and critique of earlier versions of this paper, and whose feedback has helped to improve its quality significantly. Finally, we acknowledge the input of delegates at the 9th Asia-Pacific Interdisciplinary Research in Accounting (APIRA) Conference, held in Auckland, New Zealand.Peer reviewedPostprin
Application of simple sequence repeats (SSRs) markers to study the resistance of locally adapted maize hybrids to damaging maize streak virus disease
Simple sequence repeat markers were used to study S6 recombinant inbred lines originating from a single cross between two inbred lines OSU 23i and EM12-210, for resistance to maize streak virus disease. A total of 115 recombinant inbred lines belonging to three families previously selected using conventional methods were screened using 52 SSR markers contained between Bin 1.04 and 1.05 of maize chromosome 1. Of these, only three markers were chosen on the basis of their polymorphism content for use in the study. This paper discusses the results of combined selection with both artificial inoculation and the three selected SSR markers. The use of artificial inoculation detected 78 resistant lines and 36 susceptible lines. On the other hand, the SSR markers detected 40 resistant lines, and 74 susceptible lines. But a combination of both the artificial inoculation and SSR marker selection reduced the number of resistant lines to 29 and increased the number of susceptible lines to 85. With these findings it was concluded that, a conventional maize breeder requires the use of molecular markers inorder to improve selection intensity and maximize genetic gai
Optimization of FTA technology for large scale plant DNA isolation for use in marker assisted selection
Conventional methods for DNA acquisition and storage require expensive reagents and equipments. Experimental fields located in remote areas and large sample size presents greater challenge to developing country institutions constrained financially. FTATM technology uses a single format utilizing basic tools found in laboratory. In this study, FTATM cards were used to collect over 3000 samples from a field located 130 km and used to screen progeny plants using PCR-marker-assisted selection. PCR product yields and quality are sufficient for reliable scoring, distinguishing heterozygous fromhomozygous plants using ABI 3730 sequencer. Results indicate that this method is faster, easier and in-expensive