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Effective corporate governance of boards can become a sustainable competitive advantage for organisations. In the extant literature a number of reasons are cited for dysfunctional boards. Some of the reasons attributed to board failure relate to poor corporate governance, practice and oversight. Some of the reasons for board failure pertain to micromanaging of the organisation, an ineffective nominating committee, size of the board, non-functioning committee structure, absence of strategic plan, no orientation\induction plan and no rotational plan. Poor governance practises across all sectors has negatively tainted economic investment in South Africa consequentially affecting economic growth. Below South Africa’s competitive rating slipped from (52nd) in 2012-2013 to 53rd in 2013-2014 rating is given to show that marked improvement is needed in corporate governance. South Africa’s rating in the Corruption Perceptions Index for 2012 was 43 and slipped to position 69 amongst 176 countries for the Corruption Perception Index, 2013. The trend analysis report of the Public Service Commission reported that In 2006/7, there were 1 042 cases of corruption, amounting to R130.6-million; in 2007/8, there were 868 cases, amounting to R21.7-million; in 2008/9, there were 1 204 cases, amounting to R100.1-million; in 2009/10, there were 1 135 cases, amounting to R346.5-million; in 2010/11, there were 1 035 cases, amounting to R932.3-million; in 2011/12, there were 1 243 cases, amounting to R229.9-million. Good governance frameworks, policies, procedures, processes and practices attract foreign direct investments. Better governance practices are critical for improved economic growth and development that will result in an improvement in the South Africa’s competitiveness and corruption perception index ratings. South Africa’s continued economic growth and development is dependent on attracting foreign direct investment. From 1994 corporate governance regimes were promulgated. Although there are a collection of corporate governance codes and guidelines that have been published, few specifically cover governance practices in public entities. Moreover, with better governance practices state-owned enterprises can significantly contribute to the economic transformation and development in South Africa. The purpose of the study is to establish that improved governance is a function of board structure and board process variables. With the presence of structural and process variables board activism will improve resulting in board decision quality. Independent directors without no conflict of interest, the requisite industry expertise and intelligence (functional area knowledge), the information to make decisions are adequate, accurate and timely (information quality), directors exert the needed effort (effort norms), directors robustly explore all dimensions and options (cognitive conflict) and the board functions optimally (cohesiveness) influence board decision quality. Boards which are configured optimally are able to execute their fiduciary responsibility optimally. In 2012 a budget of R845.5 billion was provisioned for infrastructural development to boost economic development. This budget allocation must be prudently and frugally managed in accordance with good governance practises to achieve economic development. In particular South Africa has to improve its competitiveness rating and corruption perception index to attract investments and continual growth. In terms of the research design, to address the research questions, a mixed research approach was selected for the study. The phenomenological (qualitative) and positivist (quantitative) philosophical paradigms were adopted with the purpose to obtain a greater understanding of board decision quality in the Public Entities in South Africa. The data collection instruments used in the study was in-depth interviews, focus group interviews and administration of a survey. The population for the qualitative research was 19 in-depth interviews and two focus group interviews. For the quantitative study a population of 215 public entity board members were selected for the study. A total of 104 board members of Public Entities completed the survey for the study. In relation to data analysis for the qualitative study Tesch’s coding, thematic analysis was used to analyse the in-depth and focus group interviews. For the quantitative study, SPSS was used to analyse responses from the surveys. The hypothesis was tested using inferential statistics, namely, factor analysis and multiple regression was used.. The findings generated from the first phase, the qualitative study that provided support for the positive relationship between board structure, board process variables and board decision quality. The following five variables are incorporated in a model that seeks to identify the strongest predictor of board decision quality: (1) board independence, (2) effort norms, (3) functional area knowledge and skill, (4) cognitive conflict and (5) information quality. The findings show that information quality is the strongest predictor of board decision quality followed by expert knowledge and skill. As expected, expert knowledge does not only increase the cognitive capacity of the board, but it also positively affects company competitiveness. The findings also show that cognitive conflict has a negative association with decision quality. The study argues that political influence exerted by board political appointees may explain the negative relationship between cognitive conflict and board decision quality. The major contribution of this study is that it provides a 28-item instrument that can be used practically by public entity boards in the reflective process to improve board decision quality. The study concludes by offering avenues for further research. The model suggests that board decision quality is a product of board structure (board independence), board process (functional area knowledge, information quality, and cognitive conflict and effort norms). / Business Management / D.B.L.

The degree to which a country’s public entities observe basic principles of good corporate governance is an increasingly important factor for attracting investment capital, maintaining economic stability and encouraging growth. Zimbabwe is faced with the challenge of restructuring for greater efficiency and creating an investment-friendly environment, therefore practicing good corporate governance in public entities is crucial for success and economic growth. As business entities, public entities need to be managed effectively by a competent board, which is able to construct and implement strategies that are in the best interests of the entity and all stakeholders. This study focuses on the corporate governance initiatives, laws and regulations aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of boards of public entities in Zimbabwe. The key question addressed is whether or not the corporate governance initiatives and legal and regulatory reforms in Zimbabwe are sufficient to enable boards of public entities to effectively discharge their duties and meet internationally accepted corporate governance standards. A comparative analysis of Zimbabwe’s public entities corporate governance framework to that of South Africa (a developing country like Zimbabwe) and Australia (a developed country with similar common law heritage) is also conducted. Recommendations are made on how best to enhance the effectiveness of boards of public entities in order to promote good corporate governance practices in Zimbabwean public entities. The research established that the existing corporate governance framework has not been effective in improving the effectiveness of Zimbabwe public entity boards due to lack of commitment and consistency, political interference, weak enforcement mechanisms, corruption and general disregard for the rule of law. The research found that South Africa and Australia have performed better than Zimbabwe in terms of creating conducive environments for boards of public entities to effectively discharge their duties. To improve the effectiveness of public entity boards, it was found that boards should be properly empowered, government intervention should be minimised, board appointment processes should be transparent and merit-based, boards should be properly composed, board remuneration should be fair and performance related, the performance of the board should be regularly evaluated and effective enforcement mechanisms should be put in place. / Mercantile Law / LL. D.

Titel: “Könsfördelningen i styrelser och dess samband med utdelningsnivån i börsnoterade företag, En kvantitativ studie utförd på svenska börsnoterade företag” Nivå: C-uppsats i företagsekonomi Författare: Mathias Ehrlin och Elvira Estmyr Handledare: Peter Lindberg Datum: 2017 - September Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka om utdelningsnivån har något samband med andelen kvinnor i börsnoterade företags styrelser och om utdelningsnivån visar samband med andra faktorer däribland företagsspecifika- och styrelsespecifika variabler. Inom tidigare forskning är det flertalet företagsspecifika faktorer som visat sig ha ett samband med utdelningsnivån. Däremot finns det mindre forskning för styrelsespecifika faktorer varpå vår studies unika bidrag är att undersöka Sverige som är en av de länder med högst andel kvinnor i börsnoterade företags styrelser. Metod: Studien tillämpar kvantitativ metod med deduktiv ansats. Data från år 2014 samlas in i huvudsak via källorna Thomson Reuters Datastream/Eikon, Retriever databas och böckerna “Styrelser och revisorer, i Sveriges börsföretag”. Vid statistiska testerna och analysen delas datan upp. Dels utförs bivariat analys och regressionsanalys för samtliga företag och dels endast de företag som genomfört utdelning. Standard multipel regression tillämpas. Slutligen förkastar/bekräftar vi hypoteser utifrån de signifikanta resultat vi får. Resultat & slutsats: Studien visar ett positivt samband mellan lönsamhet och utdelningsnivå vid analys för samtliga företag. Detta resultat är väl i linje med tidigare forskning. Övriga variabler når inte signifikans vilket kan bero på populationens storlek och observationsperioden som denna studie behandlar. Inget samband kan bekräftas eller förkastas för andel kvinnor i styrelser och dess samband med utdelningsnivå, därmed kan inte syftet för studien besvaras.Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Studien leder till ökad nyfikenhet för fortsatt forskning på området och att då analysera fler variabler och i större skala. Exempelvis fler styrelsespecifika variabler kan undersökas såsom styrelsens storlek och kön på styrelseordförande för att se om ett samband existerar mellan dessa och utdelningsnivån. Intressant hade även varit att vidga studien till att undersöka samband som dessa faktorer har på utdelningspolicy och andra tänkbara aspekter.Uppsatsens Bidrag: Bidraget uppsatsen medför är främst ett bidrag till att framtida forskning bör vara av större skala då detta förhoppningsvis ger fler signifikanta resultat. Utöver detta bidrar studien med en förståelse för hur stor skillnad en förändring av lönsamheten gör på utdelningsnivån. Detta anser vi ger ökad förståelse för ämnet till framtida forskning men även för privata investerare och företag. Nyckelord: Utdelningsnivå, företag, andel kvinnor, styrelse, Sverige, börsnoterade företag, styrelsespecifika faktorer, företagsspecifika faktorer, styrelsens sammansättning. / Title: "Gender distribution in boards and it’s relation to dividend level in listed companies, A quantitative study conducted in Swedish publicly listed companies" Level: Final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business Administration Authors: Mathias Ehrlin and Elvira Estmyr Supervisor: Peter Lindberg Date: 2017 - September Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate if there’s a relation between the level of dividends and the proportion of women in listed companies’ boards and if the level of dividends is related to other factors including firm specific- and board specific variables. In previous research, the majority of firm-specific factors have been found to be related to the dividend level. On the other hand, there is less research for board-specific factors, our unique contribution is to investigate Sweden, which is one of the countries with the highest level of gender distribution in the boards of listed companies. Method: The study applies quantitative method with deductive approach. Data from 2014 is collected mainly through the sources Thomson Reuters Datastream/Eikon, Retriever database and the books "“Styrelser och revisorer, i Sveriges börsföretag”". At the statistical tests and analysis, the data was split up. Bivariate analysis and regression analysis is carried out on all companies in our study and also these tests are executed on only those companies that have made a dividend payout for the period. Standard multiple regression is applied. Finally, we reject or confirm hypotheses based on the significant results we receive. Result & Conclusions: The study shows a positive correlation between profitability and dividend level when analyzing all companies in our study. This result is well in line with previous research. Other variables do not reach significance, which may depend on the size of the population and the observation period that this study takes into account. No relationship can be confirmed or rejected for the proportion of women in boards and the dividend level. The aim of this study is therefore left unanswered.Suggestions for future research: The study leads to increased curiosity for continued research in the field and to analyze more variables and on a larger scale. For example, more board-specific variables can be investigated such as the size and gender of the Board of Directors to see if there is a relationship between these and the dividend level. It would also be interesting to have broadened the study to investigate the impact these factors have on dividend policy and other possible aspects. Contribution of the thesis: The contribution the thesis entails primarily is that it provides more intel to the fact that future research should be of a larger scale, as this would then hopefully give more significant results. In addition, the study provides an understanding of how a change in profitability impacts the dividend level. In our opinion, we provide greater understanding of the subject for future research but also for private investors and companies. Keywords: Dividend, Dividend level, Company, Proportion of Women, Board, Board of directors, Sweden, Listed companies, Board-specific factors, Firm-specific factors, Board composition.

Bakgrund: Bolagsstyrelsens roll och ansvarsområde har länge varit föremål för diskussion. I Sverige kan man från ett legalt perspektiv se att övervakning av företagsledningen får en central roll. Ägare i svenska bolag har stor möjlighet att påverka styrelsens genom den svenska valberedningsprocessen. Ägare får genom denna process möjlighet att påverka styrelsens övervakningsförmåga genom hur de sammansätter styrelsen. Påverkar därmed vilken sorts ägartyp företaget har styrelsens förmåga att övervaka effektivt. Syfte: Uppsatsens syfte är att förklara hur olika ägartyper påverkar styrelsens förmåga att övervaka. Metod: Studien har genomförts med en deduktiv forskningsansats, där teorierna agentteori, resursberoendeteori och institutionell teori har använts för att göra en teoretisk modell som förklarar ägartypernas påverkan på styrelsens övervakningsförmåga. Denna kvantitativa studie genomfördes genom användningen av data om svenska börsbolags styrelser från 2022. Slutsats: Studien visar att ägartyper har en påverkan på styrelsens förmåga att övervaka. Denna påverkan görs både direkt och indirekt genom styrelsens sammansättning. Dock tyder även resultatet på att det är ägarkoncentrationen av ägartyperna som är anledningen till detta som stämmer överens med agentteorin. / Background: The role and area of ​​responsibility of the board of directors has long been the subject of discussion. In Sweden, from a legal perspective, it can be seen that monitoring of company management has a central role. Owners in Swedish companies have a great opportunity to influence the board through the Swedish election committee process. Through this process, owners get the opportunity to influence the board's monitoring ability by how they compose the board. Can what kind of ownership type the company has then affect the board's ability to monitor effectively. Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to explain how different ownership types affect the board's ability to monitor. Method: The study has been carried out with a deductive research approach, where the theories agent theory, resource dependence theory and institutional theory have been used to make a theoretical model that explains the influence of ownership types on the board's ability to monitor. This quantitative study was conducted by using data on the boards of Swedish listed companies from 2022. Conclusion: The study shows that ownership types have an impact on the board's ability to monitor. This impact is shown both directly and indirectly through the composition of the board. However, the results also indicate that it is the ownership concentration of the ownership types that is the reason for this, which is consistent with the agency theory.

Bakgrund: Styrelsens uppgift spelar en extra viktig roll vid en börsintroduktion då företaget går från privat till publikt. För ett börsnoterat företag är det yttersta målet att öka aktievärdet, där finansiell prestation ses som den mest betydelsefulla faktorn. En god bolagsstyrning kan bidra till ökad lönsamhet. För vägledning och rekommendationer kring styrelsens sammansättning kan företagen därav vända sig till svensk kod för bolagsstyrning. Syfte: Studien har som syfte att beskriva och analysera om styrelsesammansättningen har samband med företagets finansiella prestation vid börsintroduktion. Teori: I den teoretiska referensramen definieras innebörden av styrelsens sammansättning och finansiell prestation. Vidare presenteras tidigare forskning följt av en beskrivning av agentteorin, den resursbaserade teorin och teorin om den kritiska massan. Utifrån dessa presenteras studiens hypoteser. Metod: Studien tillämpade multipel regression för att studera sambandet mellan styrelsens sammansättning och företagens lönsamhet i 41 svenska börsnoterade företag mellan 2017–2019. Slutsats: Studiens resultat visar att två av fyra variabler kopplade till styrelsens sammansättning har samband med företagens lönsamhet. Styrelsens kunskapsnivå har en negativ koppling till lönsamheten vid börsintroduktionen medan styrelsens storlek har en positiv. Dessa två variabler bör därför beaktas vid utformandet av styrelsens sammansättning. / Background: The board plays an important role in an initial public offering. For a listed company, the ultimate goal is to increase share value, where financial performance is seen as the most important factor in order of that achievement. Good corporate governance can help companies achieve profitability and therefore they can turn to the Swedish Code for Corporate Governance in order to receive guidance regarding that. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze whether the composition of the board has a connection with the company’s financial performance in the event of an initial public offering. Theory: The meaning of the boards composition and financial performance is defined in the theoretical frame of reference. A presentation of previous research is then followed by a description of the applied theories. Based on these the studies hypotheses are presented. Method: This study applied multiple regression as a method. In order to study the potential relationship between the board composition and the profitability of 41 Swedish companies whom are listed on the Swedish stock exchange between 2017-2019. Conclusion: The results indicates that out of four variables linked to the board composition, two have a connection to the profitability of the companies studied. The level of knowledge shows a negative relationship with profitability in the event of an initial public offering while size of the board shows a positive. Therefore these two are important dimensions which should be considered when the board composition is being designed.

Effective corporate governance of boards can become a sustainable competitive advantage for organisations. In the extant literature a number of reasons are cited for dysfunctional boards. Some of the reasons attributed to board failure relate to poor corporate governance, practice and oversight. Some of the reasons for board failure pertain to micromanaging of the organisation, an ineffective nominating committee, size of the board, non-functioning committee structure, absence of strategic plan, no orientation\induction plan and no rotational plan. Poor governance practises across all sectors has negatively tainted economic investment in South Africa consequentially affecting economic growth. Below South Africa’s competitive rating slipped from (52nd) in 2012-2013 to 53rd in 2013-2014 rating is given to show that marked improvement is needed in corporate governance. South Africa’s rating in the Corruption Perceptions Index for 2012 was 43 and slipped to position 69 amongst 176 countries for the Corruption Perception Index, 2013. The trend analysis report of the Public Service Commission reported that In 2006/7, there were 1 042 cases of corruption, amounting to R130.6-million; in 2007/8, there were 868 cases, amounting to R21.7-million; in 2008/9, there were 1 204 cases, amounting to R100.1-million; in 2009/10, there were 1 135 cases, amounting to R346.5-million; in 2010/11, there were 1 035 cases, amounting to R932.3-million; in 2011/12, there were 1 243 cases, amounting to R229.9-million. Good governance frameworks, policies, procedures, processes and practices attract foreign direct investments. Better governance practices are critical for improved economic growth and development that will result in an improvement in the South Africa’s competitiveness and corruption perception index ratings. South Africa’s continued economic growth and development is dependent on attracting foreign direct investment. From 1994 corporate governance regimes were promulgated. Although there are a collection of corporate governance codes and guidelines that have been published, few specifically cover governance practices in public entities. Moreover, with better governance practices state-owned enterprises can significantly contribute to the economic transformation and development in South Africa. The purpose of the study is to establish that improved governance is a function of board structure and board process variables. With the presence of structural and process variables board activism will improve resulting in board decision quality. Independent directors without no conflict of interest, the requisite industry expertise and intelligence (functional area knowledge), the information to make decisions are adequate, accurate and timely (information quality), directors exert the needed effort (effort norms), directors robustly explore all dimensions and options (cognitive conflict) and the board functions optimally (cohesiveness) influence board decision quality. Boards which are configured optimally are able to execute their fiduciary responsibility optimally. In 2012 a budget of R845.5 billion was provisioned for infrastructural development to boost economic development. This budget allocation must be prudently and frugally managed in accordance with good governance practises to achieve economic development. In particular South Africa has to improve its competitiveness rating and corruption perception index to attract investments and continual growth. In terms of the research design, to address the research questions, a mixed research approach was selected for the study. The phenomenological (qualitative) and positivist (quantitative) philosophical paradigms were adopted with the purpose to obtain a greater understanding of board decision quality in the Public Entities in South Africa. The data collection instruments used in the study was in-depth interviews, focus group interviews and administration of a survey. The population for the qualitative research was 19 in-depth interviews and two focus group interviews. For the quantitative study a population of 215 public entity board members were selected for the study. A total of 104 board members of Public Entities completed the survey for the study. In relation to data analysis for the qualitative study Tesch’s coding, thematic analysis was used to analyse the in-depth and focus group interviews. For the quantitative study, SPSS was used to analyse responses from the surveys. The hypothesis was tested using inferential statistics, namely, factor analysis and multiple regression was used.. The findings generated from the first phase, the qualitative study that provided support for the positive relationship between board structure, board process variables and board decision quality. The following five variables are incorporated in a model that seeks to identify the strongest predictor of board decision quality: (1) board independence, (2) effort norms, (3) functional area knowledge and skill, (4) cognitive conflict and (5) information quality. The findings show that information quality is the strongest predictor of board decision quality followed by expert knowledge and skill. As expected, expert knowledge does not only increase the cognitive capacity of the board, but it also positively affects company competitiveness. The findings also show that cognitive conflict has a negative association with decision quality. The study argues that political influence exerted by board political appointees may explain the negative relationship between cognitive conflict and board decision quality. The major contribution of this study is that it provides a 28-item instrument that can be used practically by public entity boards in the reflective process to improve board decision quality. The study concludes by offering avenues for further research. The model suggests that board decision quality is a product of board structure (board independence), board process (functional area knowledge, information quality, and cognitive conflict and effort norms). / Business Management / D.B.L.

This dissertation is composed of four essays that empirically investigate three topics in financial economics; financial stress and its leading indicators, the relationship between bank competition and financial stability, and the link between management board composition and bank risk. In the first essay we examine which variables have predictive power for financial stress in 25 OECD countries, using a recently constructed financial stress index. We find that panel models can hardly explain FSI dynamics. Although better results are achieved in country models, our findings suggest that financial stress is hard to predict out-of- sample despite the reasonably good in-sample performance of the models. The second essay develops an early warning framework for assessing systemic risks and predicting systemic events over two horizons of different length on a panel of 14 countries. We build a financial stress index to identify the starting dates of systemic financial crises and select crisis-leading indicators in a two-step approach; we find relevant prediction horizons for each indicator and employ Bayesian model averaging to identify the most useful predictors. We find superior performance of the long-horizon model for the Czech Republic. The theoretical literature gives conflicting predictions on how bank...