Suchergebnisse

There has been considerable research in respect of voluntary disclosure by companies and factors that may explain such disclosure. However, most of the research has been centred in developed countries. This study extends the previous literature by examining voluntary disclosure in a developing country, namely Kenya. Over the last decade, the Kenyan Government has initiated several far‐reaching reforms at the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) in order to mobilise domestic savings and attract foreign capital investment. These measures include privatisation of state corporations through the stock exchange and allowing foreign investors to own shares in the listed companies. This study provides a longitudinal examination of voluntary disclosure practices in the annual reports of listed companies in Kenya from 1992 to 2001. The study investigates the extent to which corporate governance attributes, ownership structure and company characteristics influence voluntary disclosure practices.Our results suggest that the extent of voluntary disclosure is influenced by a firm's corporate governance attributes, ownership structure and company characteristics. The presence of an audit committee is a significant factor associated with the level of voluntary disclosure, and the proportion of non‐executive directors on the board is found to be significantly negatively associated with the extent of voluntary disclosure. The study also finds that the levels of institutional and foreign ownership have a significantly positive impact on voluntary disclosure. Large companies and companies with high debt voluntarily disclose more information. In contrast, board leadership structure, liquidity, profitability and type of external audit firm do not have a significant influence on the level of voluntary disclosure by companies in Kenya.

We analyse the profile of the boards of directors of 142 Brazilian publicly‐held companies in 1999. Directors were divided into four distinct categories, following Bhagat and Black (2000 Working Paper no. 143, Columbia Law School) criteria for the US market. Our survey analyses the degree of independence of directors in relation to their respective controlling shareholders. Our results indicate that the controlling shareholders' representatives largely dominate the boards. One intriguing finding is that minority shareholders do not use the mechanisms at their disposal to elect directors. There seems to be low interest by non‐controlling shareholders in participating in shareholders' meetings, and consequently in selecting representatives for the board of directors. This could partly be explained by the lack of proxy voting mechanisms.

Book reviewed: Brian Coyle, The ICSA Corporate Governance Handbook, London: ICSA Publishing, 2005, ISBN 1860722482
Reviewed by Professor James Kirkbride
Faculty of Business and Law
Liverpool John Moores University Russell L. Olson, The School of Hard Knocks, Rochester, NY: RIT Cary Graphic Arts Press, 2005, ISBN 1933360011
Reviewed by Professor Patricia A. Williams
Fordham University
New York Martin Fahy, Jeremy Roche and Anastasia Weiner, Beyond Governance: creating corporate value through performance, conformance and responsibility, Chichester: Wiley, 2005, ISBN 0‐470‐01151‐3
Reviewed by Dr Ruth Bender
Cranfield School of Management

The paper evaluates the characteristics of corporate boards associated with layoff decisions using a large sample of UK firms suffering performance declines over the period 1994–2003. The results show that firms are less likely to respond to performance declines with employee layoffs when they have large boards. Further analysis shows that layoff decisions are positively associated with the proportion of outside directors and directors' remuneration. The findings provide some support to the recommendations of the Cadbury Report (1992) and Higgs Review (2003) on the importance of the structure and composition of board of directors in the corporate governance process.

Various corporate governance initiatives were adopted in Korea following a major corporate governance failure, identified as a direct cause of the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997–1998. Our findings indicate that, before the crisis, the likelihood of replacing poorly performing CEOs was not related to business group (chaebol) affiliation. However, after the Asian Financial Crisis, we find CEO turnover sensitivity to performance is greater in chaebol firms than in stand‐alone firms. These findings indicated improved monitoring following reforms initiated by the Korean government, NGOs and other capital market participants. These findings have implications for the effectiveness of corporate governance in US firms following governance restructuring imposed by the SEC, the government and various market participants.

PurposeUsing local historical data, the purpose of this paper is to compile a chronology of high‐magnitude snow avalanches to illustrate the effectiveness of information published in newspapers in assisting the management of natural hazards.Design/methodology/approachMajor transportation lines parallel the southern boundary of Glacier National Park, Montana, USA, an area where snow avalanches occur frequently and occasionally block transportation corridors. A 1986 study presented an avalanche chronology for the study area based on information collected from the 1946 to 1982 issues of a local weekly newspaper. We extend that existing data set here by using the same newspaper, recording avalanche occurrences and impacts reported in the newspaper from 1982 to 2005.FindingsThe newly updated chronology is presented, with trends and temporal patterns for the entire 1946‐2005 data set analyzed. A decrease in reported avalanches, from the 1960s onward, is noted. Additionally, reported avalanches shifted from occurring most frequently in February to January in the last 20 years.Research limitations/implicationsThe results of this research illustrate the use of newspaper reports as an inexpensive, but effective, way to compile a chronology of high‐magnitude snow avalanches. This research method tends to underreport smaller magnitude events that do not affect the transportation linkages.Practical implicationsSnow avalanche managers could use this method to compile a chronology of events when other, more traditional techniques, are not available or too expensive.Originality/valueThis paper uses a rarely utilized but inexpensive and widely available data source to construct a 59‐year avalanche chronology in an area constantly threatened by snow avalanches.