Relationship between Corporate Governance Indicators and Firm Value: A Case Study of Karachi Stock Exchange

We investigated whether differences in quality of firm-level corporate governance can explain the firm-level performance in a cross-section of companies listed at Karachi Stock Exchange. Therefore, we analysed the relationship between firm-level value as measured by Tobin’s Q and total Corporate Governance Index (CGI) and three sub-indices: Board, Shareholdings and Ownership, and Disclosures and Transparency for a sample of 50 firms. The results indicate that corporate governance does matter in Pakistan. However, not all elements of governance are important. The board composition and ownership and shareholdings enhance firm performance, whereas disclosure and transparency has no significant effect on firm performance. We point out that those adequate firm-level governance standards can not replace the solidity of the firm. The low production and bad management practices can not be covered with transparent disclosures and transparency standards.Corporate Governance; Firm Performance; Tobin’s Q; Agency Problem; Board Size; Shareholdings; Disclosures; Leverage Code of Corporate Governance

The Relationship between Corporate Governance Indicators and Firm Value: A Case Study of Karachi Stock Exchange

We investigated whether differences in quality of firm-level corporate governance can explain the firm-level performance in a cross-section of companies listed at Karachi Stock Exchange. Therefore, we analysed the relationship between firm-level value as measured by Tobin’s Q and total Corporate Governance Index (CGI) and three sub-indices: Board, Shareholdings and Ownership, and Disclosures and Transparency for a sample of 50 firms. The results indicate that corporate governance does matter in Pakistan. However, not all elements of governance are important. The board composition and ownership and shareholdings enhance firm performance, whereas disclosure and transparency has no significant effect on firm performance. We point out that those adequate firm-level governance standards can not replace the solidity of the firm. The low production and bad management practicesCorporate Governance, Firm Performance, Tobin’s Q, Agency Problem, Board Size, Shareholdings, Disclosures, Leverage, Code of Corporate Governance

The Response of Karachi Stock Exchange to Nuclear Detonation

Stock markets are highly reactive to internal and external developments. News of major events take no time to impact, the Stock Exchange that quite often serves as a barometer of the good and bad for the market. The importance of particular events and their effect on the stock market has been a subject of study in financial literature. Such studies attempt to assess the extent to which stock markets’ performance stray’s from the normal around the time of the occurrence of subject events. The stock market crash in the USA of October 1987 and related crash in the Far East later in January 1998 led to several studies of the event. On October 14, 1987, the US stock market began the steepest decline of its history, culminating in the crash of October 19, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 508 points (22.6 percent). Certain aspects of the event of Black Monday as it is called emphasised the need for research to explore what fundamental economic factors triggered the large decline and the institutional and structural factors that were inherent in the trading strategies of investors. Michell and Netter (1989) have presented evidence that a tax bill containing anti takeover provision proposed by the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee of Oct. 13, 1987 was the economic event that triggered the October 19 crash. Other events and economic conditions during October 14–16 have been cited in the literature including higher than expected trade deficits, rising interest rate and increased worries about the government deficit and fear of inflation by many studies. Certain trading strategies such as index arbitrage and portfolio insurance has been cited by the Report of Presidential Task Force (1988). Roll (1988) has argued the crash did not begin in US since many other world markets experienced a severe decline on October 19 before US markets opened.

The Relationship between Corporate Governance Indicators and Firm Value : A Case Study of Karachi Stock Exchange

We investigated whether differences in quality of firm-level corporate governance can explain the firm-level performance in a cross-section of companies listed at Karachi Stock Exchange. Therefore, we analysed the relationship between firm-level value as measured by Tobins Q and total Corporate Governance Index (CGI) and three sub-indices : Board, Shareholdings and Ownership, and Disclosures and Transparency for a sample of 50 firms. The results indicate that corporate governance does matter in Pakistan. However, not all elements of governance are important. The board composition and ownership and shareholdings enhance firm performance, whereas disclosure and transparency has no significant effect on firm performance. We point out that those adequate firm-level governance standards can not replace the solidity of the firm. The low production and bad management practices can not be covered with transparent disclosures and transparency standards.Corporate governance, firm performance, Agency Problem, Board Size, Shareholdings, Disclosures, Leverage, Code of Corporate Governance

Kirk Johnson. Television and Social Change in Rural India. New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1999. 247 pages. Paperback. Indian Rs 225.00.

The role of television as a powerful medium of communication is wellrecognised. This one material commodity has most dramatically influenced the social life of India. About 75 percent of India’s one billion people live in villages. Today, in rural India, television is considered as a necessity and it has become a large part of most villagers’ daily life. Johnson’s book is about the role that television plays in the process of social change in rural India. His focus of research has been primarily on the advertising and entertainment aspect of television in the context of village life as a whole

Sunil Misra. Voluntary Action in Health and Population: The Dynamics of Social Transition. New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1999. Paperback. Indian Rs 225.00. 273 pages.

Health is a coefficient of development. Improvement in the health status of the people is generally preceded by the overall development of the area. Development to a great extent is contingent on the social and economic security of the people, social status of women, female literacy, adoption of new technology, work participation by women, and the internalisation of investments to generate resources and create conditions of economic development. In this process, non-government organisations at the micro level play an important role

Satu Kahkonen and Anthony Lanyi. Institutions, Incentives, and Economic Reforms in India. New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2000. 516 pages. Hardback. Price Indian Rs 595.00.

The economic reform process began in India in 1991. However, the reform agenda is still far from its goals as is evident from low per capita income. Thus, this reform effort has not produced the desired outcome of a faster rate of economic and social development in a meaningful way. It is the premise of this volume that to transform the social and economic landscape, the proposed reforms should be broadbased and multi-pronged which take into account incentives for the stockholders in both the private and public sectors. The institutions are the rules that govern economy and include the fundamental legal, political, and social rules that establish the basis for production, exchange, and distribution. The two editors of this volume have received contributions from a number of authors and the wide range of papers are grouped under five main headings: political economy of reforms, reforming public goods delivery, reform issues in agriculture and rural governance, and reforming the district and financial sector

The Response of Karachi Stock Exchange to Nuclear Detonation

Stock markets are highly reactive to internal and external developments. News of major events take no time to impact, the Stock Exchange that quite often serves as a barometer of the good and bad for the market. The importance of particular events and their effect on the stock market has been a subject of study in financial literature. Such studies attempt to assess the extent to which stock markets’ performance stray’s from the normal around the time of the occurrence of subject events. The stock market crash in the USA of October 1987 and related crash in the Far East later in January 1998 led to several studies of the event

Corporate Governance and Firm Performance: Evidence from Karachi Stock Exchange

In the developed markets the subject of corporate governance is well explored as a significant focus of economics and finance research but there is also a growing interest across emerging markets in this area. In Pakistan, the publication of the SECP Corporate Governance Code 2002 for publicly listed companies has made it an important area of research of corporate sector. According to La Porta, et al. (2000) ‘Corporate governance is to a certain extent a set of mechanisms through which outside investors protect themselves against expropriation by the insiders’. They define the insider as both managers and controlling shareholders A corporate governance system is comprised of a wide range of practices and institutions, from accounting standards and laws concerning financial disclosure, to executive compensation, to size and composition of corporate boards. A corporate governance system defines who owns the firm, and dictates the rules by which economic returns are distributed among shareholders, employees, managers, and other stakeholders. As such, a county's corporate governance regime has deep implications for firm organisation, employment systems, trading relationships, and capital markets. Thus, changes in Pakistani system of corporate governance are likely to have important consequences for the structure and conduct of country business

How to Live in a Textile Quota-free World

Its going to be an open arena, only fittest will survive, instead of governments, markets will determine whom to favour or not. There will be no textile quotas in the year 2005. The world has changed and it is going to change increasingly. It differs from the colonial patterns of trade and co-operation when only United Kingdom was the major player in the international trading arena. Now there are many leading trading nations in the world. In post World Trade Organisation era that is after January 1, 1995 at least on paper every country is equal partner in the global trading system. On ground there are big and small players in this equal paper partnership. United States continues to be the leading exporter and importer in the world with a share of 12.4 percent of total world exports and 18.0 percent of total world imports. The East Asian economies first tier, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan have climbed up on the Product Cycle ladder shifting from low value products to high value added exports like hi-tech electronics, the second tier of NIE’s Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines have diverse exporting patterns. Excluding Malaysia, others are exporters of textiles and clothing with many other products