Determinants and characteristics of voluntary Internet disclosures in GCC countries

The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants and characteristics of voluntary Internet disclosures by listed companies in three Gulf Cooperation Council countries. This paper uses archival data from 192 listed companies in Qatar Stock Exchange, Muscat Securities Market, and Bahrain Bourse. Binary Logistic Regression analysis is used to examine the determinants of Internet financial reporting. Kruskal-Wallis test is used to examine the differences in disclosure characteristics among the three countries. The results reveal that firm size is the major influencing factor that impacts Internet financial reporting in the GCC. A number of disclosure characteristics differ significantly between the three countries. The paper provides insights into corporate Internet disclosure in the GCC that will benefit all stakeholders with an interest in corporate reporting in this important region of the world. The results are consistent with previous literature that corporate size is a major determinant of Internet financial reporting

International ownership and firm performance in Arab economies

This paper aims at filling existing research by examining the impact of corporate governance and ownership structure on firm performance using cross-sectional data from companies in the MENA region for the years 2009-2013. The results indicate that higher ownership concentration is associated with higher returns. Furthermore, firms with higher international ownership share tend to perform better than those with only local private and/or state ownership. The results suggest some prevalent features with respect to ownership and performance of firms in the MENA region. Due to the volatile social and business environment, these firms operate in, they may be particularly dependent on effective ownership structures and support which may be provided by international, institutional, and large shareholders

International Ownership and SMEs in Middle Eastern and African Economies

Abstract English Empirical evidence suggests that international ownership of local firms supports firm performance and growth through various channels such as financing, technology transfer, and improved access to international markets. This is particularly true for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that otherwise may lack access to a variety of vital resources. At the same time small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) formation may promote economic development. The relationship between firm performance and international ownership has been well explored for firms in developed economies but this is not the case for firms – including SMEs – in Africa and the Middle East. Largely due to lack of relevant cross-country financial data, existing literature on African and Middle-Eastern firms has presented survey-based evidence on firm performance while evidence based on detailed financial information remains lacking. The present paper aims at filling this research gap. We identify African and Middle-Eastern SMEs operating in the formal sector and examine the impact of ownership structure on firm performance. We use cross-sectional financial data covering about 25,500 companies – including about 30% SMEs – in 69 African and Middle-Eastern countries for the years 2006 to 2015. Our results indicate that international ownership has significant positive association with firm performance. For internationally-owned SMEs this appears to be true despite lower levels of equity and debt capital, implying that internationally-owned firms use international resources – other than capital – more efficiently! Abstract Deutsch Empirische Erkenntnisse deuten darauf hin, dass das internationale Eigentum an lokalen Unternehmen die Leistung und das Wachstum von Unternehmen über verschiedene Kanäle wie Finanzierung, Technologietransfer und verbesserten Zugang zu internationalen Märkten unterstützt. Dies gilt insbesondere für kleine und mittlere Unternehmen (KMU), die andernfalls möglicherweise keinen Zugang zu einer Vielzahl wichtiger Ressourcen haben. Gleichzeitig kann die Gründung kleiner und mittlerer Unternehmen (KMU) die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung fördern. Die Beziehung zwischen Unternehmensleistung und internationalem Eigentum wurde für Unternehmen in Industrieländern umfassend untersucht; dies ist allerdings nicht der Fall für Unternehmen – einschließlich KMU – in Afrika und im Nahen Osten. Da relevante länderübergreifende Finanzdaten oft nicht vorlagen, hat die vorhandene Literatur über afrikanische und nahöstliche Unternehmen vor Allem umfragebasierte Untersuchungen zu Unternehmensleistungen vorgelegt, während Evidenz, die auf detaillierten Finanzinformationen basiert, nach wie vor fehlt. Ziel des vorliegenden Beitrags ist es, diese Forschungslücke zu schließen. Wir untersuchen die Auswirkungen der Eigentümerstruktur auf die Unternehmensleistung afrikanischer und nahöstlicher KMU. Wir nutzen dazu Querschnittsfinanzdaten von rund 25.500 Unternehmen – darunter etwa 30% KMU – in 69 Ländern Afrikas und des Nahen Ostens für die Jahre 2006 bis 2015. Unsere Ergebnisse zeigen, dass internationale Eigentümerschaft eine signifikante positive Assoziation mit der Unternehmensleistung hat. Für KMU in internationalem Besitz scheint dies trotz eines geringeren Eigen- und Fremdkapitals zu gelten; dies impliziert, dass in internationalem Besitz befindliche Unternehmen internationale Ressourcen – außer Kapital – effizienter nutzen