Corporate governance: Theories, mechanisms and the case of oil and gas exporting developing countries

Abstract

This paper reviews the literature on the quality of corporate governance practices in the oil and gas exporting developing countries (Russia, Venezuela, Nigeria, the MENA, and the GCC countries). We investigate if the internal and external governance mechanisms function efficiently in these countries. The findings of the reviewed literature show that the quality of corporate governance practices in the countries of our focus is not efficient at internal and external levels. Regarding the internal mechanisms, weak governance mechanisms originate from low transparency levels and give rise to poor voluntary disclosure in the firms. However, some internal mechanisms are more efficient in some of these countries as presented in the conclusion section. Regarding the inefficiency of external mechanisms, all the studied countries share common characteristics with respect to weak legal systems, inefficient law enforcement infrastructures, and low levels of protection for properties, investors, and shareholders especially the minority ones