Suchergebnisse

Purpose
This paper aims to investigate whether there is any change in corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure in Pakistani companies after the introduction of CSR voluntary guidelines in 2013 by Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and determine the effect of corporate governance (CG) elements on CSR disclosure.


Design/methodology/approach
Content analysis was applied to measure CSR disclosure from annual and sustainability reports of 50 companies from eight different sectors from 2010 to 2014. Paired-samples t-test was applied to examine the difference in CSR disclosure. Regression analysis was used to examine the relationships between CG elements and CSR disclosure.


Findings
Paired-samples t-test shows an increase in the extent of CSR disclosure after the introduction of CSR voluntary guidelines in 2013. The one-way ANOVA test reveals that the extent of CSR disclosure is different across various sectors. Multiple regression results prove that independent directors, women directors and board size positively affect the extent of CSR disclosure.


Practical implications
SECP should enforce medium-sized firms to start producing CSR reports. Voluntary guidelines of 2013 moderately improved CSR reporting. Therefore, enforcement of the SECP rule of independent directors may enhance the extent of CSR disclosure.


Originality/value
This study is the first to examine the effect of CSR voluntary guidelines issued by SECP in 2013 and CG elements on CSR disclosure in Pakistan.

Purpose
This paper examines whether shareholders consider corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance when voting on corporate governance change proposals submitted by dissident shareholders. These proposals recommend changes to the corporate governance status quo and are made by dissident shareholders who are dissatisfied with the company's existing governance practices.


Design/methodology/approach
Using 195 governance change proposals voted on during 2013, the paper examines the relationship between CSR performance (obtained from the MSCI database) and the level of voting support for these proposals.


Findings
This study finds that shareholder support for corporate governance change proposals submitted by dissident shareholders is positively related to firms' CSR concerns, especially environmental concerns.


Research limitations/implications
The findings suggest that shareholders may be concerned with the potentially adverse effects of weak CSR performance, especially poor environmental performance, and may support changes to corporate governance structures when a company's CSR and environmental performance is weaker.


Originality/value
As the first research to examine the relationship between CSR and proposed changes to corporate governance, this study provides unique insights into shareholder perceptions of the value of CSR based on shareholders' support (or lack thereof) for governance changes proposed by dissident shareholders.

ABSTRACT Purpose: To study the Brazilian bond and stock markets for testing the stock market development theory of Demirgüc-Kunt and Maksimovic (1996). Originality/gap/relevance/implications: This paper tests the substitution hypothesis of stock market development, from debt to stocks, in a context of improved corporate governance, by analyzing the data with cointegration techniques. The findings show that the rejection of substitution hypothesis, as the bond market has a positive and significant association with stock market improvements. The findings also show that improving the quality of corporate governance could lead equity capital and borrower capital sources to be complementary and not substitutes, suggesting that Brazilian stock market reform has created a virtuous development cycle. Key methodological aspects: Positivist research using quantitative methodology. Data from a sample of 171 firms during 20 years, analyzed with cointegration. The null was a negative association between bond and stock markets. Summary of key results: Null rejection, non-consistent to theoretical framework. The results have shown a positive and significant association between stock and debt in an improved corporate governance context. Key considerations/conclusions: Improving the quality of corporate governance could lead equity capital and borrower capital sources to be complementary, and not substitutes, suggesting that Brazilian stock market reform has created a virtuous development cycle.

This paper focuses on Denmark's Master of Public Governance and its assessments and lessons learned. Denmark is seen to have an efficient economy and public sector, a digitalized public service delivery system, and an advanced work–life balance. The Danish government invested substantial resources into developing a Master of Public Governance program – a flexible and modular program for public managers to take over a period of up to six years. The paper focuses on the Copenhagen version of the Master of Public Governance program. More than 1000 public managers from central, regional and local government are now active in pursuing an executive public management education through this program. The development, structure, content and the innovative teaching ideas are presented. The available data, including an official evaluation of the MPG program, is used to assess the program and present some lessons learned. The program has achieved its goals as public managers express satisfaction with the content and the flexible structure of the program, which suited more governance-oriented public managers with a need for strategic-thinking public managers, and has provided them with an opportunity to try out innovative teaching ideas. Lessons learned include the necessity of securing back-up from the government for a program of this considerable size, offering a flexible array of accessible and up-to-date courses and ensuring collaboration between universities offering the program.

Policy design, or the deliberate governmental effort to attain desired policy objectives, is an integral part of micro and macro-level fiscal and financial regulation. This paper seeks to address the role of regime coherence and policy capacity in contributing to effective financial policy design. Drawing on the cases of the Global Financial Crisis and Asian Financial Crisis and focusing on Asian states, we assess regime capacity at both international and domestic levels. We argue that it is the integration of analytical, operational and political capacities that have contributed to the overall ability of a government regime to address and respond to crises.

This article examines the effect of participatory governance on policy performance in the United States, which is shaped by external and internal factors related to transaction cost. Externally, if transaction-cost-related policy conditions are uncertain-thereby increasing transaction cost-the effect of participatory governance on policy performance is less positive. Internally, noninstitutionalized participatory governance methods (e.g., public meetings) are less effective than institutionalized ones in improving policy performance (e.g., advisory committees). In addition, these internal and external factors affect the choice of participatory governance methods by government agencies: agencies are more likely to employ institutionalized participatory governance methods under low-transaction-cost policy conditions.