This study has examined the relationship between corporate governance structures and the performance of a sample of companies listed on the Malaysian Stock Exchange in the post-Asian financial crisis period beginning 2001 and ending in 2003. The sample was selected to provide matched-pairs of government linked companies (GLCs) and non-government linked companies (NGLCs), as it was anticipated that these groups would have different governance structures and that these differences might impinge on the association being studied. The empirical results indicate that there were eight statistically significant differences between the corporate governance structures of GLCs and NGLCs, thus supporting the contention that it would be useful to examine the association between corporate governance structures and performance for these two distinct groups separately. Accordingly, univariate and multivariate tests were performed on three samples: (i) GLCs; (ii) NGLCs and (iii) a combination of these referred to as All Companies. The multivariate tests were performed both on the dataset collected from published sources and this data transformed using the Van Der Waerden approach. Although tests for conformity suggested no significant statistical problems with the original data-set for multivariate analysis, it was hoped that the transformation would provide better models for explaining the relationship between corporate governance variables and performance. The multivariate analyses on both the standard and transformed data-set found no empirical evidence of a consistent relationship between corporate governance structures and performance measured by return on assets and return on equity in GLCs, NGLCs or the combined sample over the period. Statistically significant relationships were found across the groupings and for different performance measures but were not sustained across all years. The implications for corporate governance research of these inconsistent results across different measures of performance and different samples across the three year period is that empirical research may reach conclusions based on statistically significant results at a point in time that are only relevant for this historic context and may not persist. The results also indicate that, despite the eight differences in governance structures of GLCs and NGLCs, the observed differences in the performance could not be explained by their governance structures. This finding supports the view that these structures provide appropriate monitoring on company’s management rather than improving performance. These findings are consistent with the ambivalent position on the relationship between performance and corporate governance variables observed by the literature which exhibits conflicting arguments about the direction of relationships and empirical results that are extremely variable. This study also found that the relatively poor performance of GLCs in Malaysia which has been associated with government influence on the board structures such as the appointment of a bumiputra as director (BUM), a senior government officer as director (SGO) and a politician as director (POL) were basically unfounded because these variables have no statistically significant adverse impact on performance.

This study investigates the suitability of applying international relations theory, specifically international regime theory, to Olympic sport governance. The reliance of the Olympic governance system upon its conception of sport as a politically transcendent source of moral inspiration and the importance of this ideology to political actors can be used to accurately classify it as an international regime or institution. Two outcomes derive from this argument. First, the Olympic regime acknowledges states as free riders and allows them to accrue benefits from association with Olympic sport without bearing any of the costs of providing it. This makes the Olympics an especially appealing target for state political manipulation. Second, the regime is relatively unable to enforce any of its rules for state behavior not because it is weak or lacking in legitimacy, but because its ideological principles make enforcement impossible. The arguments advanced in the first section of the dissertation are supported by empirical case studies in the second. Historical process tracing methods are used to synthesize historical narrative with causal analysis. The decision to ban South Africa at the 1968 Summer Olympics, the 1980 U.S.-led boycott of the Summer Games in Moscow, and the development of the International Convention against Doping in Sport are all instances in which the Olympic movement and international politics intersected, and thus represent useful illustrations of the relationship between the Olympic regime and international politics. / text

<p>La thèse se compose de trois chapitres distincts. Le premier, rédigé en français, traite des questions de l’adaptation des établissements de crédits belges à leur environnement économique et financier depuis le milieu des années septante. Il a fait l’objet de deux publications dans les Cahiers Economiques de Bruxelles en 1997. Les deuxième et troisième chapitres, rédigés en Anglais, traitent de questions de Corporate Governance et, en particulier, décrivent et analysent l’actionnariat et les participations des sociétés belges cotées en Bourse de Bruxelles en 1995.<br> <p><b>Chapitre 1 : Impacts des évolutions du secteur financier sur le choix de portefeuille d'une banque</b><br> <p>Comment expliquer l’apparente stationnarité de la structure de bilan des établissements de crédits au cours de ces vingt dernières années? Pour modéliser l'activité bancaire, nous avons utilisé les théories de choix de portefeuille de Markowitz, en considérant la banque comme un investisseur face à trois actifs risqués (crédits, dépôts, fonds d'Etat) et détenant un capital fixé. Le modèle développé est une extension du modèle construit par PYLE (1971) qui prenait en compte deux actifs risqués et un actif sans risque.<br> <p>Le paramétrage ajuste le bilan théorique d'une banque sur le bilan agrégé de l'ensemble des banques en Belgique en 1975. Cet ajustement sur des données du passé permet d'étudier, aux travers de chocs sur les paramètres du modèle calibré, les trois grandes évolutions qu'a connu le secteur bancaire au cours des vingt années écoulées : l'augmentation de la concurrence bancaire, la modification des risques d'intérêt dans le sens d'une plus grande flexibilité des taux de dépôts, et l'introduction du ratio Cooke, imposant aux banques de détenir des fonds propres à hauteur de 8% minimum des crédits accordés au secteur privé.<br> <p>L'étude de ces trois chocs, individuellement d'abord, simultanément ensuite, a mis en évidence notamment les résultats suivants :<br> 1. L'apparente stationnarité de la structure des bilans bancaires depuis 1975 cache la compensation mutuelle des impacts de chacune des évolutions du secteur.<br> 2. L'augmentation de la concurrence bancaire, entraînant la réduction des marges d'intermédiation, a eu pour effet d'entamer la rentabilité du secteur et, par-là, la fragilité financière des établissements de crédits.<br> 3. L’introduction du ratio Cooke il y a quelques années ne fut pas contraignant pour la moyenne du secteur, contrairement à ce que certains ont prétendu à l'époque.<br> <p>Enfin, une actualisation des données de 1992 à 1996 détaille les raisons de l’amélioration de la rentabilité du secteur bancaire sur ces dernières années et confirme la validité du modèle utilisé par un paramétrage actualisé pour l’année 1996.<br> <p><b>Chapitre 2: Shareholdings Structure and Separation between Ownership and Control In Belgium</b><br> <p>The second chapter tends to describe, in a comprehensive manner, the full ownership structure of the 140 Belgian listed companies by the end of 1995, as well as the portfolio of their shareholdings. The paper details the matrix methodology used based on the contribution of Brioschi et al. (1989, 1997) and the database built to this end. The paper is part of a much wider network, the ECGN (European Corporate Governance Network), composed of several researchers in each of the European countries.<br> <p>Results show that direct ownership of listed firms is highly concentrated: on average, the largest shareholder controls, 45% of the votes, while the second one, much smaller, controls 11% and the third one 6%, others are negligible. Ultimate ownership concentration is high also if we consider the possibility of pyramiding. The largest ultimate owner controls on average 30% of the votes in a listed company, 6% for the second one. Pyramids are flat in Belgium: one or two ownership levels maximum in most cases.<br> <p>The ratio between the percentage of stakes owned and the percentage of stakes controlled by investor appear to be very limited in Belgium. Moreover, the effect of pyramiding in the separation between ownership and control seems to be negligible. There are, however, two big exceptions to this state of fact. These are the French holding company Suez and the non-listed Belgian firm Frère-Bourgeois, controlled jointly by the Belgian businessman Albert Frère.<br> <p>International comparisons of separation ratios reveal that in a country knowing the same Corporate Governance system as Belgium - Italy - the situation is similar in many regards, but extreme cases are much more pronounced. The situations are very different in countries belonging to other Corporate Governance systems, like The Netherlands and the United States.<br> <p><b>Chapitre 3: Block Investment and Partial Benefits of Corporate Control: The Case of Belgium</b><br> <p>The work of Zwiebel (1995): “Block investment and partial benefits of corporate control”, brings some answers to the question of the determinants of the shareholder structure of a public company. The objective of the chapter is to check whether Zwiebel’s theoretical predictions remain valid with ownership data of listed Belgian firm. And, more specifically, the results on distribution of small investors across firms compared to large shareholders. The question is also to assess the validity of Zwiebel’s theory across different corporate governance systems.<br> <p>To this end, we use first the same econometric tests as Zwiebel applied to US data in his paper, then we run non-parametrical tests in order to make a deeper analysis of the Belgian data. We test the statement both for direct ownership data and ultimate ownership data. We found a good applicability of Zwiebel’s prediction to the Belgian case. Our results allow us to discuss the robustness of Zwiebel’s theory across very different Corporate Governance system like in the United States and in Continental Europe, and contingent to this, its limitations.

This dissertation queries how 'governance' - as a process where social behavior and development is organized, coordinated, and guided - is produced and maintained in spaces where the institutions of 'government' are essentially absent. In Brazil, for example, where more than one-third of the total urban population lives in favelas (urban slums, often lacking basic state resources), researchers continually report that social and political order is maintained in slum communities, even when the official state apparatus has no visible presence whatsoever. The reason for this, suggest some scholars, lies in the fear and violence that is used by drug traffickers to control the spaces where they do business (i.e., favelas). But this answer is incomplete and based almost exclusively upon research from only two Brazilian cities (Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo): drug traffickers do not rule most favelas in Brazil, and socio-political cohesion is rarely, if ever, preserved through constant gang or police surveillance in favelas outside of Rio and São Paulo. Still unknown, therefore, is how and why a majority of favelas, despite the severely diminished presence of a state apparatus (official or otherwise), continue to function like any other Brazilian neighborhood. Through a case study of a favela in a midsized city in northeast Brazil (Fortaleza), and relying upon a mixed-methodological research design (e.g., semi-structured interviews, focus groups, participant observation, archival research), this dissertation helps to explain the paradox of governance in ungoverned spaces.

This research reviews Diné governance with an eye towards forecasting reform. What do traditional Diné institutions of governance offer to our understanding of the contemporary challenges faced by the Navajo Nation today and tomorrow? The research is part history, and part political science while pioneering applications of cutting edge research methods. Primary and secondary research will detail where Navajo Nation has been. Diné history is explored via creation stories, the Naachid systems, and the various contemporary councils. Unclear aspects of Diné history are illuminated by relying on oral accounts. Analysis pinpoints what is missing in governance today while questioning whether looking to the past alone will help make governance work better tomorrow. Sometimes adopting traditional Diné governance institutions is not feasible, not wanted, or not possible. New methodological territory offers insight when the past and the future do not work well together. The concept building method is utilized as a way of mitigating the loss that occurs when English words fail to capture the essence of Navajo language. Concepts organic to Navajo culture such as Naachid, Naat'aanii, War Naat'aanii, Peace Naat'aanii, etc, are turned to for assistance in dealing with contemporary issues. Navajo concepts are represented in three-level-view depictions. Three-level-view expressions require that concepts be observed on three-levels. Level one is the name. Under the name level are the set of necessary and sufficient conditions which must be present or you do not have an actual concept. Under each of the conditions are the data/observations which must be present in order to verify that the condition is present. Concept building displays where Navajo Nation has been in order to better understand where Navajo Nation needs to go. The visual presentation of traditional concepts of Diné governance makes them more understandable. Interestingly, when the concept building method is applied to post 1922 Diné governance, the true motives of the United States become obvious. A clearer path is presented toward incorporating chapter house government into national government. Developing contemporary concepts of Navajo governance based on traditional teachings equips us to deal with contemporary issues.

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Audit committees are an integral part of good corporate governance and their establishment strengthens the credibility of governments. As a foundation of good governance, audit committees are positioned to provide an objective assessment of whether or not public resources are responsibly and effectively managed. They also promote accountability and integrity, as well as improvement in the operations of governments and municipalities. The establishment of audit committees in the local sphere of government came with the advent of modernisation in terms of the budget and financial management, which was intended to strengthen accountability. The requirement for effective utilisation of resources by local government is critical for the support and empowerment of local communities and delivery of effective services. The audit committee framework for local government, which is provided by the Municipal Finance Management Act (56 of 2003), is underpinned by principles of good governance and accountability, which promote the effective functioning of audit committees. However, there are perceptions and arguments advanced in the literature regarding the effectiveness of audit committees as an accountability structure. This was brought about by the recurring reported incidences of the failure of businesses, which took place despite the existence of rules and laws regulating the function. As a result, trends of leading best practices were established, which enhanced audit committees' performance and were adopted as a proxy for the measurement of audit committees’ effectiveness. The focus of the study is on validating the perception by management that the audit committee of the Westonaria Local Municipality (WLM) is effective in the execution of its oversight role. A literature study on the functioning of audit committees have been undertaken, official municipal documents were analysed and a questionnaire has been developed and utilised as a means for gathering data, in order to prove the hypothesis to be either true or false. The areas investigated in this study demonstrate that the audit committee of WLM is generally effective in the execution of its oversight function. The findings of the study also identified certain areas in the audit function which require the attention of both management and the audit committee of the municipality. More specifically, the observations made in the study include the following: (i) that audit committee members are not provided with the agendas and reports in sufficient time for them to adequately prepare for meetings; (ii) that a productive relationship between the audit committee and the management of the local government has to be maintained; (iii) that there is a lack of informal meetings between the audit committee and the external and internal auditors; (iv) that no appropriate training of the audit committee on existing and potential audit risks in local government is in place; (v) that there is an absence of continuous learning programmes for the members of the audit committee; and (vi) that audit committee members do not evaluate themselves in terms of their level of knowledge regarding the functioning and activities of their audit committee. Attending to these aspects, as identified through this study, will further improve the audit committee’s activities in the WLM. These aspects are therefore not viewed in a negative light, but are rather regarded as a positive venture to be addressed by municipal management and the audit committee, in order to improve the functioning of the audit committee. These aspects should therefore be added to the many positives aspects that are identified concerning the WLM audit committee, as discussed in this study. / M Public Administration (Development and Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

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