Market-based Performance Research Articles

Corporate Governance and Firm Performance: Exploring the Mediating Role of Financial Slack

Purpose: Generally, prior literature merely focuses on the direct nexus of governance-performance, while ignoring the precise channels through which corporate governance has an effect on the firm performance. Specifically, this study has taken up this issue to capturing the governance-enterprise valuation following the indirect channel of financial slack in Pakistan.
 Design/Methodology/Approach: The study examined the corporate governance and enterprise performance linkage, employing financial slack as a mediating variable. A market-based performance measure “Tobin’s Q” and corporate governance index are used. For the years 2005-2019, this empirical study looks at a large number of 180 firms in the Pakistani non-financial sector. For analysis, a variety of alternative specifications and estimate approaches of panel data analysis are used.
 Findings: The empirical findings support the hypothesis that the association between corporate governance and Tobin’s Q is likely to be significant. The novelty of the study lies in the governance-value linkage considering financial slack resource as mediator. The study also confirms partial mediation of financial slack, between CG and FP. 
 Implications/Originality/Value: This study examines the corporate governance standards in Pakistan, a developing nation with a fledgling stock market. The findings show that the organizations with effective corporate governance principles strive to deliver the best financial and market performance. It emphasizes that efficient corporate governance policies curtail the agency conflicts and costs. It is also argued that firms with effective corporate governance can enhance the efficiency of financial slack resources to enhance the efficiency of the firms.

The cubic S-curve relationship between board independence and intellectual capital efficiency: does firm size matter?

PurposeFirst, this study assesses firms’ efficiency of transforming intellectual capital (IC) components into firm performance. Second, this study examines (1) cubic S-curve relationship between board independence and IC efficiency and (2) how firm size moderates the cubic S-curve relationship.Design/methodology/approachThis study employs a stochastic nonparametric envelopment of data (StoNED) framework to estimate IC efficiency, which is derived from the estimation process of transforming structural, relational and human capitals into accounting- and market-based performance indicators. This study conducts regression analyses on 1,104 firm-year observations of Taiwanese semiconductor firms over the period of 2011–2018.FindingsStoNED results suggest that sample firms' IC efficiency can be relatively improved by approximately 80%. Regression results indicate that a cubic S-curve relationship between board independence and IC efficiency exists, and firm size moderates the nonlinear effects.Practical implicationsOverall, this study highlights the importance of examining the nonlinear effect of board independence on IC efficiency from the perspective of agency theory, and the moderating effect from firm size, which may suggest availability of resources from the resource-based view of the firm.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature through the innovative application of an efficiency-based tool for evaluating IC efficiency. The cubic S-curve relationship between board independence and IC efficiency also points to the policy concerning the appropriate number of independent directors on board.

The impact of gender quotas on corporate boards: a cross-country comparative study

Drawing on institutional theory and resource dependence theory, this study examines whether mandating gender quotas for corporate boards is associated with a greater presence of women on boards, better accounting-based and market-based performance, more innovativeness, and more external female directors. Based on a cross-country comparative sample of companies from 18 countries, our results suggest that organizations in countries where gender quotas are implemented show better market-based performance and better board vigilance through a higher number of external directors than organizations in countries where quotas are not implemented. The direct impact of gender quotas on innovativeness and accounting performance is not observed. Our findings add to the institutional theory literature by suggesting that companies respond strategically and show acquiescence in their strategic response when institutional pressure addresses ethical concerns (gender diversity). The results support institutional theory’s contentions that companies from countries mandating gender quotas are valued more highly by the market. Nevertheless, the impacts on accounting performance and innovativeness are not apparent. Additionally, adopting a resource dependence approach, we find that the presence of women on boards is associated with more efficient corporate governance practices. The results of this study demonstrate the positive implications of gender quotas for company boards. The upper echelons of companies and country policymakers may better understand the importance of diversity and the presence of female directors on company boards.

Global banking stability in the shadow of Covid-19 outbreak

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has been exerting negative effects on several economies in 2020. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to examine the impact of this pandemic on the global banking stability and to assess any potential recovery signals. This study is timely, in that we consider 1090 banks from 116 countries for quarterly periods across 2019–20. The results provide strong empirical evidence that, in the global banking sector, the Covid-19 outbreak has had detrimental impacts on financial performance across various indicators of financial performance (i.e., accounting-based and market-based performance measures) and financial stability (i.e., high-risk indicators including default risk, liquidity risk and asset risk). These results are consistently observed for various regions, countries (US, China and others), and different bank-level characterises, and across income-generation levels among countries. We also find differential effects of the pandemic on alternative banking systems (i.e., conventional and Islamic). Moreover, our trend analysis, based on bank average performance and financial stability over quarterly periods, identifies a signal of recovery for bank stability during the second quarter of 2020. The findings presented in this study offer important financial observations and policy implications to many stakeholders engaging with global banking.

How firms' performance mediates the relationship between corporate governance quality and earnings quality?

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to propose an analytical model that investigates both a direct path between corporate governance quality and earnings quality and an indirect path, in which firms' performance is a mediating variable that is influenced by corporate governance quality and that, in turn, influences earnings quality.Design/methodology/approachThe study employs a structural equation modelling (SEM), to a sample of Egyptian listed firms during 2011–2017, to test the proposed analytical model and to determine the relative importance of both the direct and indirect paths.FindingsThe findings show a statistically significant evidence of both a direct path from corporate governance quality to earnings quality, and an indirect path that is mediated by firms' performance, suggesting that both corporate governance quality and performance have a complementary effect on earnings quality. However, the weight of the evidence favouring the direct path is more important in case of accounting-based performance measures; and the weight of the evidence favouring the indirect path is more important in case of market-based performance measures.Research limitations/implicationsThe current study has some limitations. First, the study focuses specifically on one proxy for measuring earnings quality which is the absolute value of discretionary accruals. Other proxies of earnings quality could be examined in future research, such as income smoothing, earnings persistence and timely loss recognition. Another limitation is that only financial performance measures were examined, namely, return on assets, return on equity, price-to-earnings ratio and market-to-book value. Notwithstanding, non-financial performance measures could be investigated in future studies, such as balanced scorecard (BSC). Furthermore, considering cultural, political and legislative differences among countries, the results may not be generalised outside the scope of the current sample (i.e. Egyptian listed firms).Practical implicationsThe implications of the findings for both theory and practice are discussed.Originality/valueThis study is distinguished by validating an analytical model that has been overlooked by prior studies. Moreover, it provides a new constructed index for measuring corporate governance quality. Furthermore, it uses a new sophisticated statistical technique, which is SEM, for testing the proposed model.

An evidence-based study on competency adoption framework and assessing its impact on organisational performance

Companies have invested heavily in competency-based HR systems without having established guidelines on its implementation. This research studies the adoption of the competency framework in HR, along with perceived organisation performance (POP) and financial organisation performance (FOP). The study solicited research sample from the senior HR heads (N = 175) of equity index companies listed in recognised stock exchanges of India. This study proposes a competency adoption framework (CAFRMW) to measure the extent of adoption and evaluates the ability of CAFRMW to predict perceived and market-based performance measures effectively. The significant findings highlight that successful adoption of competency depends upon succinct documentation and formal communication of the same. Additionally, making competency accessible, contemporary, and training-appropriate is the key to success.

Determinants of Accounting and Market-based Performance Measures – Case of Croatian Non-financial Listed Companies

Research background: Profitability and the factors that determine it have always intrigued the scholars. Despite the large number of studies dealing with this topic at the international level, this paper sheds a new light on the issue since it deals with the listed companies in an emerging economy confronting two performance measures. Purpose of the article: The aim of this paper is to provide evidence on the performance of Croatian non-financial firms listed on the Zagreb Stock Exchange (ZSE). Methods: The analysis encompassed firms that operated in the 2015 – 2019 period. For this purpose, the authors confronted two performance measures, i.e. accounting-based performance measure represented with return on assets (ROA) whereas Tobin’s Q stands for the market-based measure of performance or firm value. Independent variables that served as potential determinants of listed companies’ performance include inventories management, productivity, liquidity measured with both current and quick ratio, and size calculated on the basis of total assets, and sales. Findings & Value added: After employing static panel analysis, the results reveal statistically significant influence of size variable based on assets in both models though it takes negative sign in the model where performance is measured with Tobin’s Q, whereas its positive impact on performance is recorded in ROA model. Furthermore, size based on total sales also positively affects performance when measured with ROA.

An evidence-based study on competency adoption framework and assessing its impact on organisational performance

Companies have invested heavily in competency-based HR systems without having established guidelines on its implementation. This research studies the adoption of the competency framework in HR, along with perceived organisation performance (POP) and financial organisation performance (FOP). The study solicited research sample from the senior HR heads (N = 175) of equity index companies listed in recognised stock exchanges of India. This study proposes a competency adoption framework (CAFRMW) to measure the extent of adoption and evaluates the ability of CAFRMW to predict perceived and market-based performance measures effectively. The significant findings highlight that successful adoption of competency depends upon succinct documentation and formal communication of the same. Additionally, making competency accessible, contemporary, and training-appropriate is the key to success.

Intellectual Capital Disclosures and Corporate Governance in Gaining the Firms’ Non-Discretionary Profits and Market Value in ASEAN-5


 
 
 This study aims to find the effect of Intellectual Capital Disclosure (ICD) and Corporate Governance (CG) on firm performance in ASEAN countries. Firm performance is divided into accounting-based performance and market-based performance. The accounting-based performance consists of Non-Discretionary Net Income (NDNI) and Cash Flow Operations (CFO), while market-based performance consists of Tobin’s Q and Market-to-Book Ratio (MBR). The measurement of ICD components uses a scoring system. The sample of this research is 112 firms in the industrial technology listed in the stock exchange of ASEAN-5 between 2011 and 2018. This study finds that NDNI increases when firms increase RCD quality. No ICD components are capable of affecting CFO. On the other hand, SCD is a variable that decreases NDNI value. BGEN is found to reduce NDNI and CFO values. RCD is also the only ICD component that can increase market-based performance, especially MBR. HCD consistently lowers the values of MBR and Tobin’s Q. BSIZE holds a significant role in raising Tobin’s Q score, and BGEN lowers MBR instead. BIND has no part in the market-based performance, but it significantly lowers NDNI value. This study adds another view to ICD’s benefits from two firm performance perspectives, accounting-based performance and market-based performance, especially in ASEAN-5.
 
 

The Relationship Between Muslim Directors on Board of Directors and Audit Committee Characteristics on Performance Evidence from Jordan

This study examines the impact of corporate governance mechanisms on the performance of firms in Jordan. Giving particular attention to diversity in the board of directors and audit committee, this study looks into the impact of Muslim directors on the board of directors (BoD) and audit committee (AC) on performance. Overall, 76-panel data were used, which were obtained from published annual reports of industrial and service sectors from the Amman Stock Exchange from 2012 to 2018. A fixed-effect model was used to test various hypotheses of the study. Both accounting-based (ROA and ROE) and market-based (Tobin's Q) performance measures were tested. which, as yet, only a handful of studies have been conducted. The findings showed that the relationships between Muslim directors on the board have an insignificant effect on ROA and ROE. Conversely, Muslim director in AC has a positive but insignificant relationship with ROA and ROE. Concerning the relationship with Tobin’s Q, the findings showed that Muslim directors on the board have an insignificant relationship with Tobin’s Q. Moreover, the findings showed that Muslim directors in AC have an insignificant positive relationship with Tobin’s Q. This study provides useful information that is of great value to policymakers, academics, and other stakeholders. This study fills the gap and contributes significantly to the literature by proving extensive findings with regards to the impact of corporate governance on firms ’performance especially the presence of Muslim directors in BoD and AC in Jordan.

Corporate social responsibility reporting: meeting stakeholders expectations or efficient allocation of resources?

PurposeThis study aims to examine whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting adds any value to the firm.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses content analysis to capture the specific CSR-related attributes and to construct a CSR reporting index. The data is manually collected from 115 publicly listed firms on the Dhaka Stock Exchange. The companies audited financial statements were the source of data. This study uses an ordinary least square regression analysis to examine the relationship between CSR reporting and firm performance.FindingsThe results of this study show that firms’ involvement in CSR activities and related reporting has a significant positive influence on firm performance only under an accounting-based performance measure. However, firms’ involvement in CSR activities and related reporting has a significant negative influence on firm performance under a market-based performance measure.Research limitations/implicationsThis study is subject to some limitations, such as the subjectivity or judgement associated in the coding process.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study imply that firms may be involved in CSR reporting to meet the stakeholders’ expectations, CSR reporting does not necessarily increase the intrinsic value of the firm.Originality/valueThis study supports the stakeholder theory and contributes to the literature on the practices of CSR reporting in the context of developing countries.

‘Letters to the editor’: the relationship between multinationality and firm performance in emerging markets

Addressing previously recognised shortcomings in the multinationality-performance literature, we find no evidence of a consistent relationship between a company’s level of internationalisation and its financial or stock-market performance for 1299 emerging-market firms from 31 countries over an 8-year period from 2011 to 2018. We contribute empirically by applying dynamic gauges of multinationality and a seldom-used combination of sector-relative financial and market-based performance measures to a dataset of developing-nation companies for the first time. We conclude that like its developed-market peers, an emerging-market company’s level of multinationality does not affect its performance either positively or negatively, as is evident in the sheer variety of ‘letter-shape’ multinationality-performance results shown here and in the literature.

The Determinant of Market-Based Performance: Evidence from Manufacturing Companies in Indonesia

The research aims to explore the determinant of firm’s market-based performance in Indonesia manufacturing companies, listed in Indonesia Stock Exchange between 2014 to 2019. The proxies used in this research are Return on Equity (ROE), Leverage, Earning per Share (EPS), Growth, Liquidity (Liquid) and Non-Debt Tax Shield (NDTS). The sampling method employs purposive sampling while the analysis is performed using E-views version 11. The result indicates that in partial, Leverage is negatively significant affect to Firm Performance while the other measured variables, namely Return on Equity, Leverage, Earning Per Share, Liquidity and Non-Debt Tax Shield, prove to be insignificant affect to firm performance. All variables simultaneously affect strongly on Firm Performance. This research implies that the management of the firm should observe Return on Equity (ROE), Leverage, Earning- per Share (EPS), Growth, Liquidity (Liquid) and Non-Debt Tax Shield (NDTS) closely in developing their strategy for better firm performance.

Does corporate governance characteristics influence firm performance in India? Empirical evidence using dynamic panel data analysis

This study tries to examine the empirical relationship between corporate governance and financial performance of Indian firms by developing a corporate governance index (CGI) based on a variety of corporate governance characteristics. Such characteristics include board structure, ownership structure, director participation and busyness, market for external control, and product market competition. We employ a panel dataset for Indian non-financial firms listed on the National Stock Exchange for the period 2010–2018. Using a System GMM dynamic panel approach, we analyse the relationship of CGI with different firm performance measures including market-based performance measures like Tobin’s Q (TQ), and accounting-based performance measures like Return on Assets (ROA) and Return on Net Worth (RONW). Based on the empirical results, we find a significant positive relationship of corporate governance index (CGI) with ROA and RONW and significant negative relationship with TQ. Lastly, the CGI used by our study is based on a broad spectrum of dimensions of corporate governance and serves as a direction for business houses and shareholders to work towards governance practices leading to better financial performance of the firms.

The Interaction Effect of Independent Boards on Corporate Governance-Corporate Social Responsibility (CG-CSR) and Performance Nexus

The financial crises over the past two decades were identified as the main reason for the economic collapse. Malaysia suffered the same fate when many organisations crumpled from inappropriate compliance of governance mechanisms and corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure practices. Given this condition, this study intends to examine the effects of governance mechanisms and CSR practice on firm performance and the moderating effect of board independence is investigated on corporate governance-CSR (CG-CSR) and performance nexus of 588 Malaysian companies listed on Bursa Malaysia between 2006 and 2017. Both accounting-based (ROA) and market-based (Tobin’s Q) performance measures have been used for measuring performance. Dynamic model using Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) has been employed on the dataset to control for potential endogeneity, reverse causality, and dynamic heterogeneity. Findings indicate that ownership concentration negatively affects ROA; chief executive officer (CEO) duality positively affects ROA and negatively affects Tobin’s Q. Moreover, investment on CSR is negatively related to both performance measures. Finally, board independence negatively moderates the CG mechanisms, CSR practice, and performance relationship. Findings of the study have implications for Bursa Malaysia and Securities Commission Malaysia to reset the limit of independent directors on board so that their unnecessary interference in operations of management may be avoided. Furthermore, companies need to reassess their CSR strategies whether they are spending on CSR activities or hiding their financial malfeasance in the name of investment on CSR.

Shareholding Patterns and Financial Performance: Evidence from the Banking Sector in Bangladesh

This study attempts to examine the relationship between shareholding patterns and banks’ financial performance, as defined from three different dimensions, namely, profit-based performance measured by return on equity (ROE), market-based performance measured by Tobin’s Q (TQ) and valuebased performance measured by economic value added (EVA). It included 29 out of the 30 banks listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange for the period 2013–2017, providing a balanced panel with 145 observations. All data were collected from the annual reports of the respective banks. The randomeffects GLS regression model was employed to test the chosen hypotheses. This study found a conflicting result, i.e. there was a relationship between some, but not all of the patterns of shareholdings and financial performance of the listed banks in Bangladesh. For example, a significant relationship between foreign shareholding and banks’ financial performance, as measured by ROE, TQ and EVA-log, was found. Sponsor-directors and general public shareholdings were found to be significantly related to ROE and EVA-log, but insignificantly associated with TQ. However, institutional and government shareholdings were insignificantly related to the banks’ financial performance, regardless of the measures employed to assess it. This study contributes to the existing literature by exploring the relationship between shareholding patterns and banks’ financial performance, and may indicate the need for a restructuring of the existing shareholding patterns in the banking sector in Bangladesh in order to maximise performance. This study is distinctive compared to prior studies, as it examines the relationship between the shareholding patterns disclosed in the annual reports of the sampled banks and banks’ performance, as measured by EVA-log along with ROE and TQ, which have not been covered earlier. KEYWORDS: Shareholding patterns, Financial performance, Economic value added, Banking sector in Bangladesh

코스닥기업의 국제화수준에 관한 연구: 국내시장지배력과 시장기반 성과피드백을 중심으로

코스닥기업의 국제화수준에 관한 연구: 국내시장지배력과 시장기반 성과피드백을 중심으로

Assessing the Governance Mechanisms, Corporate Social Responsibility and Performance: The Moderating Effect of Board Independence

This article serves two purposes. First, it attempts to examine the joint impact of corporate governance mechanisms and corporate social responsibility (CSR) practice on firm performance. Second, the moderating role of board independence is investigated on 588 non-financial Malaysian firms listed on Bursa Malaysia during the period 2006–2017. Both accounting-based return on assets (ROA) and market-based (Tobin’s Q) performance measures have been used for measuring performance. Dynamic model using Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) has been employed on the data set to control for potential endogeneity, reverse causality and dynamic heterogeneity. Findings indicate that ROA is a better determinant of firm performance than Tobin’s Q, where ownership concentration, managerial ownership and money spent on CSR negatively affect ROA; however, an insignificant relationship is observed with Tobin’s Q. Finally, board independence negatively moderates governance-CSR and firm performance relationship. Findings of this article have implications for Bursa Malaysia and Securities Commission Malaysia to reset the limit of independent directors on board so that their unnecessary interference in operations of management may be avoided. Furthermore, companies need to reassess their CSR strategies whether they are spending on CSR activities or hiding their financial malfeasance in the name of money spent on CSR.

Sustainability reporting and bank performance after financial crisis

PurposeThis study aims to examine the relationship between sustainability reporting and bank performance after financial crisis in developed and developing countries.Design/methodology/approachThis study examines 882 banks from developed and developing countries covering 11 years after the 2008 financial crisis. The independent variable is environmental, social and governance (ESG) scores. The dependent variables are return on assets, return on equity and Tobin’s Q. This study uses bank- and country-specific control variables to measure the relationship between sustainability reporting and bank performance.FindingsThe findings deduced from the empirical results demonstrate that ESG improves banks’ accounting and market-based performance in developed countries, supporting value creation theory. Using pooling regression and instrumental variable – generalized method of moments, this study finds that ESG weakens banks’ performance in developed and developing countries.Originality/valueTo the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to investigate and compare the impact of sustainability reporting on banks’ performance in developed and developing countries. The study found similarities in the impact of sustainability reporting and the improvement of banks’ current and future performance.

An Exploratory Study of Financial Performance in CEE Countries

Our research investigates the performance of companies from Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries in the period after the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-2009 with the aim of identifying the driving factors behind accounting- and market-based performance. We include in the analysis companies from various industries in CEE countries that are European Union members and we study their performance between 2008-2016 over the following areas of performance: liquidity, solvency and indebtedness, operational profitability, global performance (through Return on assets and Return on equity), returns available to shareholders and market-based performance (through price/book value and Tobin Q ratio). Employing the hierarchical and non-hierarchical k-means cluster analysis companies are segmented into various homogeneous groups using various financial performance indicators as variables, Euclidian distances and the Ward amalgamation method. Furthermore, the resulting clusters have been grouped according to the country of origin and industry. Our findings show that specific groups of companies in these countries share common attributes, as evidenced by their performance indicators, which do not seem to be entirely based on their countries of origin and industry. Moreover, our exploration of CEE companies’ performance dynamics after 2008 evidences the increased competition in all industries particularly after 2009, as well as businesses’ need to adjust their activities after the losses incurred during the crisis period, but these phenomena is present with different intensities depending on country of origin and industry. At the same, we note the enhancement of global performance through improvements in the operational performance instead of financial leverage and indebtedness, which is a sound business approach by CEE companies.
 Keywords: financial performance, Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), statistical cluster analysis, return to investors