Governmental Owners Research Articles

The Role of Family Ownership in Norm-Conforming Environmental Initiatives: Lessons from China

Drawing on institutional theory and property rights literature, this paper examines how different types of ownership adopt norm-conforming environmental practices in China. We propose that compared to governmental owners and institutional investors, which align themselves with the state and financial logics, respectively, family owners will adhere to a community logic, given their emphasis on socioemotional elements and property expropriation concerns. Thus, they are prone to norm-conforming environmental practices. Using a sample of 622 Chinese firms over six years, we find general support for the notion that ownership types are strongly associated with the adoption of norm-conforming environmental practices.

Ownership structure and political spending disclosure

ABSTRACT This study examines the link between ownership structure and political spending disclosure (PSD). We break down ownership into four different groups of shareholders: institutional, insider, governmental and foreign. Using a unique dataset provided by CPA-Zicklin for PSD and a panel dataset from S&P 500 companies between 2015 and 2018, our results reveal that institutional and governmental ownership are positively associated with the level of PSD, while insider ownership is negatively associated with the level of PSD. Additionally, while prior literature mainly investigated how ownership structure influences disclosure practices, we analyse the mechanisms through which ownership characteristics influence PSD. Our cross-sectional tests provide evidence that insider owners exhibit more PSD if they are pursing tax-related lobbying expenses and tax avoidance practices. Additionally, governmental owners demand lower PSD in firms with higher nonfinancial and financial reporting quality. Finally, institutional owners demand more PSD in the case of lower industry concentration. Overall, we conclude that different owners have distinct impacts and preferences on a firm's political strategy and various mechanisms uniquely operationalise the interactions between different owners and political transparency. Through agency theory, our results advance heated debates on PSD – an emerging, yet hitherto less examined, category of voluntary disclosure.

Corporate governance and democratic accountability: local state-owned enterprises in Norway

AbstractTransferring public service provision to state-owned enterprises (SOEs) raises concerns over accountability deficits. We argue that the governance of SOEs requires reconciliation of the accountability relations found in traditional models of public administration, and the normative structures of control and accountability developed in the world of private enterprises, commonly referred to as corporate governance. To this end, we propose a model for structuring accountability relations between SOEs and governmental owners. The model prescribes a distinction between the roles of elected representatives and top managers as “forums” for accountability concerning the governmental owner’s mission-related and non-mission-related preferences towards the SOE. The model’s relevance is tested empirically using data from a study of SOEs in Norway’s local government sector. The analysis indicates that accountability practices in line with the prescriptions of the model were associated with a heightened sense of control over the SOEs.

Firm Resources, Governmental Power, and Privatization

We examine how firms’ resources and the power of their governmental owners influence the likelihood of privatization of state-owned enterprises. Using data on 206 Chinese pharmaceutical firms over the period of 2000 to 2007, we found that firm financial performance (a proxy for firm resources) increased the likelihood of privatization. In addition to firm resources, we investigated how a heterogeneous body of decision makers within the governmental hierarchy influences the likelihood of firms’ privatization. We found that provincial governmental owners’ willingness to privatize firms increased when they had higher fiscal power. The results of this study also indicated a negative moderating influence of provincial fiscal power: Higher fiscal power of provincial governmental owners weakened the relationship between firm financial performance and the likelihood of privatization.

Sources of Changes in Design–Build Contracts for a Governmental Owner

In recent years, many U.S. federal, state, and local governments have been authorized to use the design–build method of project delivery instead of the traditional design–bid–build method. Recent studies have not been definitive on the cost advantage of design–build for governmental owners. There are fewer change orders in design–build due to design errors because the designer (architect/engineer) and contractor are one entity, but there are other causes of change orders. Some literature suggests that changes requested by the owner of the facility are greater with the design–build method. This research examines the causes for construction-phase changes in 14 design–build and 20 design–bid–build projects. Total changes, expressed as number per contract, cost per contract, or percentage of original contract, were significantly lower in design–build. Fewer design errors in design–build accounted for this advantage. The number of owner-requested changes was significantly greater in design–build. The cost of o...

Supervising Execution of Construction Projects in Saudi Arabia: Current Status and Future Prospects

Engineering supervision is important and difficult stage in execution of construction projects. This paper reports on a research study conducted to find out the present status and contemplate future prospects of supervision in executing public building projects in Saudi Arabia. This was accomplished by defining key issues in supervision and then crystallizing and expressing them in a questionnaire designed for the purpose of soliciting opinions of the main parties or participants in the building and construction process: governmental owners, contractors, and consultants. The questionnaire survey was administered to a cross-section of supervising engineers within the Saudi construction industry to solicit their opinion with respect to the key supervision issues. Appropriate statistical techniques were selected and applied to analyze the samples data and test the significance of the results obtained, in order to generalize the findings to the larger owner, contractor, and consultant populations. Survey results indicated that there are consensuses and differences or disparities in the opinions of the parties, which in their totality express a situation in need of major improvements. Given the fact that supervision is fundamental to construction project management, it is hoped that the views revealed through this research will constitute an instrumental framework towards increasing efficiency and effectiveness of administering construction contracts in Saudi Arabia.