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AbstractCooperatives actively pursuing financial inclusion in West Africa could potentially benefit from a closer look at the historical Raiffeisen model, which may help them provide long‐term loans in rural areas through specific strategic changes.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify both the problems and their solutions in the corporate governance systems of Korean business groups (chaebols) in the wake of the Asian financial crisis.Design/methodology/approachThis is a conceptual paper and includes suggestions for improving international governance systems.FindingsIn this paper, the author focuses on how chaebols should be restructured to improve the Korean economy. In order to figure out how they should be restructured, the author explains the positives and negatives of their current structure and how these can be modified/eliminated to make stronger corporate governance.Originality/valueThe paper provides conceptual insights into systems and laws, which can be used to improve the corporate governance of business groups.

AbstractProducts certified according to their environmental and social sustainability are becoming an important feature of production, trade and consumption in the agro‐food sector. 'Sustainability networks' are behind the emergence and growth of these new product forms, often evolving into multi‐stakeholder initiatives that establish and manage base codes, standards, certifications and labels. As sustainability moves into the mainstream, understanding the governance of these networks is essential because they partly reshape the structure and characteristics of commodity flows. In this article, we examine the role of expert knowledge and process management in governing two multi‐stakeholder initiatives (the Marine Stewardship Council and the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil) and in shaping their distributional effects. We find that the ability of developing countries, especially small‐scale actors within them, to shape standard setting and management to their advantage depends not only on overcoming important structural differences in endowments and access to resources, but also on more subtle games. These include promoting the enrolment of one expert group or kind of expert knowledge over another, using specific formats of negotiation, and legitimating particular modes of engagement over others.

Civil society is commonly assumed to have a positive effect on international cooperation. This paper sheds light on one important facet of this assumption: we examine the impact of environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) on ratification behavior of countries vis-à-vis international environmental agreements (IEAs). The main argument of the paper focuses on a "democracy-civil society paradox": although ENGOs have a positive effect on ratification of IEAs on average, this effect decreases with increasing levels of democracy. This argument is counter-intuitive and appears paradoxical because democracy is generally associated both with a more active civil society and more international cooperation. The reasons for this hypothesized effect pertain to public demand for environmental public goods provision, government incentives, and problems of collective action among ENGOs. To test the net effect of ENGOs on countries' ratification behavior, the paper uses a new dataset on ENGOs in the time-period 1973–2006. The results offer strong support for the presumed democracy–civil society paradox.

AbstractManuscript TypeEmpiricalResearch Question/IssueIn this paper, we empirically investigate whether US listed commercial banks with effective corporate governance structures engage in higher levels of conservative financial accounting and reporting.Research Findings/InsightsUsing both market‐ and accrual‐based measures of conservatism and both composite and disaggregated governance indices, we document convincing evidence that well‐governed banks engage in significantly higher levels of conditional conservatism in their financial reporting practices. For example, we find that banks with effective governance structures, particularly those with effective board and audit governance structures, recognize loan loss provisions that are larger relative to changes in nonperforming loans compared to their counterparts with ineffective governance structures.Theoretical/Academic ImplicationsWe contribute to the extant literature on the relationship between corporate governance and quality of accounting information by providing evidence that banks with effective governance structures practice higher levels of accounting conservatism.Practitioner/Policy ImplicationsThe findings of this study would be useful to US bank regulators/supervisors in improving the existing regulatory framework by focusing on accounting conservatism as a complement to corporate governance in mitigating the opaqueness and intense information asymmetry that plague banks.

Corporate governance of Thailand has been developed and reformed, particularly after 1997 Asian financial crisis. However, problems regarding director's responsibilities are still entrenched in company law and corporate practices. The challenges of Thai corporate governance on director's responsibilities are found in the areas of director's accountability and minority shareholders protection. Legal provisions on director's fiduciary duties and director's duty of care and skill are unable to regulate director's misbehaviors. Directors are not fully aware of their proper responsibilities to the company. They tend to act for their own interest or interest of their group, the controlling shareholders. In addition, legal enforcement on director's responsibilities is not effective in practice. Shareholders litigation or other actions against directors who are in breach of their duties is rare, though there is derivative action provided as remedy for minority shareholders. In finding solutions for those problems, all relevant aspects should be brought into consideration. Corporate governance on director's responsibilities is related to law, business and ethics. Director's responsibilities are matters concerning human conducts, actions, behaviors as well as practices. They are related to ethics of each company director and ethics of the board members as a whole. In addition to legal and business aspects, ethical aspect should also be considered in the reform of corporate governance on director's responsibilities of Thailand. This thesis is the study of Thai corporate governance on director's responsibilities and ethics in order to find appropriate ethical theory where good corporate governance principles will be built on. Among relevant ethical theories i.e. utilitarianism, Kantian ethics, virtue ethics and contractualism, virtue ethics of Aristotle is the most appropriate ethical theory to be applied to corporate governance on director's responsibilities of Thailand. It is suitable for the nature of corporate governance on director's responsibilities, the conditions underlying its problems, and the understanding and practices of people in Thai society. Virtues and means of virtue ethics should be applied as complements to fiduciary principles for enhancing director's accountability. The doctrine of mean of virtue ethics should be applied as complement to derivative action for enforceability and effectiveness of minority shareholders protection. In this regard, some related regulations and codes of best practices will be prescribed by adopting appropriate virtues or means, and the relevant regulators i.e. the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) and the Stock Exchange of Thailand (the SET) will be given authority to interpret and apply such regulations and codes of best practices on a case by case basis. ; published_or_final_version ; Law ; Master ; Doctor of Legal Studies