Corporate governance and foreign equity ownership in Malaysian companies

In the aftermath of the 1997/1998 Asian financial crisis, there are signs that in Malaysia, corporate governance practices are gradually converging towards the Anglo-American model. Drawing on three key theoretical lenses, namely agency theory, institutional theory and resource dependence theory, this study investigates an unexplored phenomenon in corporate governance reformation, at least in the context of Malaysia. The study examines the relationship between corporate governance elements and the level of foreign equity ownership (FEO) in Malaysian public listed companies (PLCs). More specifically, the aim of this study is to answer the following research question - Does corporate governance influence the level of FEO in Malaysian companies? In the context of this study, corporate governance is taken to be the aggregate of board of directors characteristics, directors attributes and ownership structure. On the other side of the equation is FEO, which is taken to be the proportion of equity owned by foreigners. The majority of foreign investors who are making investments in Malaysia originate from Western countries, and are accustomed to the Anglo-American corporate governance system. Thus, this study examines the influence of governance mechanisms in attracting foreign investors in a unique governance context following a major economic event i.e. the Asian financial crisis of 1997/1998. Accompanied by institutional theory and resource dependence theory, agency theory is used as the key lens to explain the hypothesised relationships. The study's hypotheses are tested using the panel data derived from 1,836 observations over a 12 year period, from 2000 through 2011. By considering the existence of heteroscedasticity and the serial correlation problems, the generalised least square (GLS) method was employed to estimate the model. To enrich the findings, logistic regression analysis was further applied and the potential endogeneity issue was resolved with a GMM test. The findings indicate that the level of FEO in Malaysian PLCs is significantly related to foreign directorships, the Western educational background of directors, professional directors, and multiple-directorships. However, the results defy the significant relationships of board size and outside directors, as generally proposed in the extant literature. In addition, the role of ownership structure is important in foreign investors behaviour, since it is found that foreign investors avoid investing in family-controlled companies and in companies with high institutional ownership. Therefore, from the overall results of this study, it can be concluded that there is evidence that corporate governance mechanisms do influence foreign investors decision making, at least in Malaysian PLCs. The implications of this study are discussed in terms of the relevant literature, theory, methodology and practice. In brief, this study has great potential impact in many respects including its relevance for policymakers in setting up new policies, designing new rules and strengthening existing regulations, both at country and firm levels

Gendered Entrepreneurship Contextualization in Egypt: An Empirical Study on Policies for Women Entrepreneurship Empowerment

The proportion of women entrepreneurs has increased dramatically over the past decade, not just in the developed world but also in developing countries. This led to a significant increase in the governments’ attention towards designing and implementing female-focused policies to allocate adequate resources for empowering women entrepreneurs in Egypt. This paper examines one main question: How does the Egyptian government empower women entrepreneurs through key policy interventions? This is only possible through testing the proposed research hypotheses and investigating Egypt’s publicized policies and governmental interventions. Based on a gender-lens perspective, this research tries to close the gaps in previous research and determine the impact of systematic gendered policies on empowering women entrepreneurship and, in return, aid in the overall economic growth and development nation-wide. This paper starts with foundational quantitative research that is later enriched with qualitative research by employing mixed methods research mode. The data was then triangulated, and the empirical results indicated the gender empowerment direction adopted by the Egyptian government, which is apparent in several reports addressing the SDGs and Egypt’s cooperation with different international and national non-governmental organizations on gender fronts. Nonetheless, it was also indicated that the results have yet to be realized from such publicized efforts and policies. Finally, the findings highlight the main challenges that the government portrays for women entrepreneurs, including the gridlock where government reports publicize new programs and more support for women entrepreneurs, while results indicated the minimal resources provided to a little number of women entrepreneurs

Introduction to Philosophy: Ethics

This is an open-access textbook designed for introduction to philosophy courses that contain a section on ethics, or for introductory courses in moral theory. In this edited work, chapter authors explore both historical and contemporary approaches to understanding and justifying moral and ethical norms. The chapters cover a wide range of topics, including moral relativism, the relationship between ethics and religion, virtue ethics in the Western and Eastern traditions, the question of self-interest and ethics, utilitarianism, Kantian deontological ethics, and recent work in feminist ethics and evolutionary ethics. Introduction to Philosophy: Ethics, edited by George Matthews (Plymouth State University), is one of a series of open-access textbooks for introduction to philosophy courses edited by Christina Hendricks (University of British Columbia), published with the support of The Rebus Community

Fraudulent financial reporting : an application of fraud models to Malaysian public listed companies

There have been great concerns among stakeholders on how fraudulent financial reporting (FFR) can affect the reputation of public-listed companies (PLCs). The post Enron era has witnessed many FFR cases around the globe. FFR has impacted many countries around the world including Malaysia, the focus of this thesis. FFR not only causes significant ethical concerns to both individuals and companies but also involves a great amount of financial losses. A survey conducted by KPMG (2014) involving Chief Executives in Malaysian PLCs between January 2010 and December 2013 has found that 26% of respondents who experienced fraud were able to state the estimate of fraud losses experienced, which amounted to RM 2.41 million (≈ USD 0.72 million) on average. Thus, FFR is a major concern for the two primary regulators of the capital markets in Malaysia; Bursa Malaysia and Securities Commission Malaysia (SC). Both authorities continue to refine the parameters that help to ensure rigorous surveillance over Malaysian PLCs (Danial et al, 2014). Effective anti-fraud programmes which include the ability to predict the likelihood of FFR among Malaysian PLCs continue to be important not only for regulators, but also to the nation. Therefore, this research examines suitable determinants of the likelihood of FFR among Malaysian PLCs based on the fraud-risk factors identified in the Fraud Models [i.e. Fraud Triangle Model (Cressey, 1953), the Fraud Diamond Model (Wolfe & Hermanson, 2004) and Crowe’s Fraud Pentagon Model (Crowe, 2011)]. Based on previous literature on FFR and the Fraud Models, this research has identified five predeveloped hypotheses and ten pre-developed sub-hypotheses. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken to explore relevant fraud-risk factors from these predeveloped hypotheses and sub-hypotheses in the Malaysian context. Additionally, interview results have also suggested measurable fraud-risk factors as Malaysian specific results, which have not been tested before. These factors are ignorance and greed. Then, these factors were statistically tested in quantitative analyses (i.e. descriptive statistics and binomial logistic regression analysis). Utilising crosssectional data series, which involve 160 Malaysian PLCs (45 fraudulent PLCs and 115 non-fraudulent PLCs) for a 10-year period (from 2004 to 2013), this research examines sixteen proxy variables on seven hypotheses and fourteen sub-hypotheses. Ultimately, based on panel data models of binomial logistic regression analysis, this research has found a new fraud model with suitable fraud-risk factors that could fit current business environment and corporate governance culture in Malaysia. In short, utilising a mixed-method design, this research has explored a new perspective in suggesting suitable fraud-risk factors to predict the likelihood of FFR among Malaysian PLCs

Multivariate scaling methods and the reconstruction of social spaces: Papers in honor of Jörg Blasius

This edited volume assembles contributions of leading scholars in the fields of statistical methods and applications in the social sciences. Multivariate scaling methods for categorical data, in particular correspondence analysis, are used to extract the most important dimensions from complex data tables and to visualize relationships in the data. The volume treats recent statistical developments, methodological considerations, and empirical applications. A special emphasis is placed on multiple aspects of space and their sociological significance: the reconstruction of "social spaces" with statistical methods, illustrations of spatial relations involving proximity, distance and inequality, and concrete interactions in urban neighbourhoods

Changing innovation systems in the developing country context: technology transfer and the new technological capabilities in the materials industry in Turkey

This thesis is concerned with analysing the extent that technology transfer contributes to the improvement and development of technological capabilities through learning at the firm level in a developing country context, and the impact of this process on the emergence and changes of key characteristics of innovation systems. Therefore, it investigates how innovation systems change over time and how they were influenced by technology transfer activities in the materials industry in Turkey between 1967 and 2001. As a contribution to the theory, the concept of technological capability is used as a bridge from the notion of technology transfer to that of the innovation system. Innovation system studies tend to rely on R&D statistics via innovation surveys for empirical analyses, whereas these could well be defined by qualitative data collected on technological capabilities through interviews. This thesis follows the latter route within an analytical framework that is designed for a firm-centred analysis. The qualitative data obtained from the interviews were transformed into categorical quantitative data to be used in multinomial logistic regression and linear regression analyses. This thesis shows firstly that firm-level capabilities were increasing over time during the period from 1967 to 2001 in the materials industry in Turkey. They were also increasing over time with the rising level of technological capabilities in the firms and the firms’ involvement in both collaborative relationships and in-house activities. Secondly, firmlevel capabilities shape the way the interactions in the innovation system change. As their level of technological capabilities deepen, firm interactions increase and shift to a moderate degree in plausible directions towards domestic agents, which are predominantly universities and research institutes. These findings support the firmdriven nature of the innovation systems

The impact of dynamic institutional capabilities on multinational enterprises’ subsidiary performance in emerging markets

In light of the global mining industry’s record profits in 2011, this inquiry explored the institutional drivers of mining multinational’s subsidiaries overall performance. Using a lens of institutional theory, this inquiry explored why the subsidiaries of emerging mining multinationals have outperformed the subsidiaries of developed mining multinationals in emerging markets.The inquiry used Mann-Whitney U hypothesis testing to compare the financial performance of 46 emerging mining subsidiaries and 39 developed mining subsidiaries. The inquiry ran eight multiple regression models to test subsidiary performance variables against institutional variables obtained from the 2011/2012 Fraser Institute annual survey of mining companies.The findings support and add to the institutional and international business literature. Emerging multinational enterprises and their subsidiaries possess dynamic institutional capabilities which allows them to better manage institutional uncertainty than developed multinational enterprises and their subsidiaries in emerging markets. An institutional development model has been developed to assist managers of multinational enterprises reduce their institutional uncertainty in emerging markets.Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012.Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)unrestricte