Director remuneration and performance in Malaysia family firms: an expropriation matter?

This study examines the relationship between director remuneration and performance in Malaysia family firms. The proxies of director remuneration include fees, salary, bonuses, and benefits of kin. The proxy for family firm is a dummy variable that is one (1) if the firm is a family firm and zero (0) is a non-family firm. The dependent variable (performance) is measured by ROA and ROE. A panel analysis of 537 firms from 2007 and 2009 finds that the relationship between director remuneration and performance is significantly positive. This suggests that the remuneration driven board motivation to enhance performance. Furthermore, this study does not find evidence the family firm manipulated a power and control for personal wealth

Determinants of Managerial Pay in the Czech Republic

The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of the variation in Czech managers' pay levels. Among the questions we attempt to answer are: Are the managers in state-owned firms compensated differently than those in private owned firms? How much of the difference in pay is explained by differences in individual characteristics and job levels? What is the importance of the regional location or the industry affiliation of the firms for managerial pay differentials? We use data from a cross-section of Czech managers in 1998 and estimate earnings equations augmented with a host of explanatory variables related to firm and job characteristics.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39694/3/wp310.pd

Managerial Pay and Executive Turnover in the Czech and Slovak Republics

Despite the crucial role played by managers in changing the functioning of labour markets in transition economies, research on the determinants of executive pay and CEO turnover in these countries is almost non-existent. The current paper aims at adding to this minuscule literature. For this purpose I make use of a unique data set containing relevant firm-manager information from the Czech and Slovak Republics in the late nineties. This allows me to examine the influence of individual and in particular firm characteristics, such as, size, ownership type, industry and region, as well as corporate performance on chief executive compensation levels and changes therein and on the probability of the executive being turned over.Managerial Compensation; CEO Turnover; Corporate Performance

Ownership structure, board characteristics, and tax aggressiveness

Tax aggressiveness, as commonly proxied by the effective tax rate (ETR), measures a firm’s effort spent on minimizing its tax payments. It is suggested that more tax aggressive firms have greater incentives to allocate resources to minimize taxes and thus have lower ETRs. Corporate governance has been continuously receiving attention in literature across different fields and can affect a firm’s tax strategy through its control mechanism. This thesis investigates how corporate governance influences a firm’s tax aggressiveness. The main hypothesis of this thesis is whether firms with good corporate governance will have less incentives and opportunities to manage tax aggressively. Specifically, I take advantages of the distinct institutional settings in China to study whether the Chinese firm’s tax aggressiveness is affected by ownership structure and the characteristics of board of directors. Using all non-financial listed companies in the Chinese A-share market during 2003 and 2009 period, I find that firms with state-controlled nature and lower proportion of controlling shares pursue less aggressive tax strategies and maintain higher ETRs. In addition, my finding is consistent with prior literature that a higher percentage of the boards’ shareholdings and dual service duties performed by the board chairman result in lower ETRs. However, I do not find a significant relationship between the percentage of independent directors and tax aggressiveness which may suggest the ineffective role of independent directors in China

Large Blocks of Stock: Prevalence, Size, and Measurement

Large blocks of stock play an important role in many studies of corporate governance and finance. Despite this important role, there is no standardized data set for these blocks, and the best available data source, Compact Disclosure, has many mistakes and biases. In this paper, we document these mistakes and show how to fix them. The mistakes and bias tend to increase with the level of reported blockholdings: in firms where Compact Disclosure reports that aggregate blockholdings are greater than 50 percent, these aggregate holdings are incorrect more than half the time and average holdings for these incorrect firms are overstated by almost 30 percentage points. We also demonstrate that our fixes are economically and statistically significant in an analysis of the relationship between firm value and outside blockholders.

Corporate governance in China: CEO compensation, company performance and ultimate ownership

This dissertation contributes to the international literature by examining the relation between chief executive officer (CEO) compensation and firm performance in China, especially under different types of ultimate shareholders, who have differing motivations and objectives regarding the structure of CEO compensation. I use unbalanced panel data from more than 1,300 Chinese A-share listed companies over 2005-2009 and find that performance, especially one of market-based measurement, has a significant impact on CEO compensation. CEO compensation levels have risen in recent years due to economic gains rather than poor corporate governance. Firms that operate under other central government ministries (SOECG) than those of the ultimate shareholder do not use performance as a guideline for CEO pay, although they have the highest CEO compensation level amongst all five groups. The size of the board directors and independent directors are contributes positively to CEO compensation. While the degree of ownership concentration and size of supervision board are negative related to CEO compensation. Moreover, CEO gets higher pay if independent direct especially financial one working province is same as companies headquarter. Most of these results are consistent with my hypothesis. Shareholders, managers, government, and others who must make improvements in China’s corporate governance standards should find these results useful. In addition, the findings can offer future research directions

Corporate Governance and Market Valuation in China

This paper studies the relationship between the governance mechanisms and the market valuation of publicly listed firms in China empirically. We construct measures for corporate governance mechanisms and measures of market valuation for all publicly listed firms on the two stock markets in China by using data from the firm’s annual reports. We then investigate how the market-valuation variables are affected by the corporate governance variables while controlling for a number of factors commonly considered in market valuation analysis. A corporate governance index is also constructed to summarize the information contained in the corporate governance variables. The index is found to have statistically and economically significant effect on market valuation. The analysis indicates that investors pay a significant premium for well-governed firms in China, benefiting firms that improve their governance mechanisms.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39949/3/wp564.pd

CEO Turnover and Firm Performance in China’s Listed Firms (CRI 2009-012)

Manuscript Type: Empirical Research Question/Issue: This study investigates the relation between CEO turnover and firm performance in China’s listed firms. The study examines how the sensitivity of CEO turnover to firm performance is moderated by the private control of firms, the presence of a majority shareholder and the presence of independent directors on the board. Research Findings/Insights: Using a panel of about 1200 Chinese firms per year from 1999 to 2006 we find significant changes in the ownership and control of firms. The private control of firms and the fraction of independent directors on the board have increased considerably over time. The study finds a significant negative association between CEO turnover and firm performance consistent with the agency model. There is evidence that the CEO turnover sensitivity for poor performance is greater in firms that are privately controlled, or have a majority shareholder, or have a greater fraction of independent directors on the board. Theoretical/Academic Implications: This study provides empirical support for the agency model and the importance of internal corporate governance to attenuate agency costs. It provides important insights into firm governance in transition economies. Practitioner/Policy Implications: This study offers insights to policy makers interested in enhancing the design of internal corporate governance within transition economies

The Matching of Heterogeneous Firms and Politicians

We use a unique Chinese firm-director panel dataset and a simple assignment model to examine the matching mechanism of heterogeneous firms and politicians. Based on 36,308 detailed biographies, we identify directors that previously held bureaucratic positions and classify the rank of each position in the Chinese political hierarchy. We address three questions using this direct measure of political capital: First, how do firms with heterogeneous productivity match with politicians with different political ability? Second, what determines the price of political capital? Finally, is there significant short-term return from political investment? Our results indicate that more productive firms are more likely to hire politically endowed individuals. The incentive increases in the dependence on external financing and decreases in the extent of foreign ownership. Conditional on the probability of being hired, individuals with greater political ability receive more compensation than their co-workers. One-step increase in political ladder from municipal to provincial level is equivalent to an annual pay increase of US$17,359. Education attainment, on the other hand, has little effect. The estimated return of political investment is sensitive to the control of matching, stressing the importance of taking into account the endogeneity of politician recruitment.Firm heterogeneity, politician, political hierarchy, matching