Academic literature on the topic 'Corporate governance – Ethiopia'

In today’s globalized economy, the corporate company faces ever-increasing competitive and social pressures. This paper aims to identify the impacts of firms’ performance on corporate social responsibility practices using the mediating roles of corporate governance evidence from Ethiopia’s corporate business. The impacts of firms’ performance on CSR and corporate governance as a mediator variable were studied using a sample of TIRET corporate companies, in the Amhara region, Ethiopia. The structural equation model and multiple regression analysis were estimated and tested using 21 corporate companies. The derived model reveals how corporate governance mediates the favorable relationship between CSR and firm performance. The result indicates that a firm’s performance is the most significant influencing factor on CSR among the impacts examined in this study. Corporate governance has a positive role in serving as a legitimacy source for CSR practice. This study discusses the significance of results-based resource theory and presents the conclusion and implications. To solve the gaps in firm performance, return on asset, debts on capital structure, and governance, the corporate firms should identify unproductive enterprises and outsource non-core values. To overcome the existed inefficiency difficulties, this study proposed that corporate enterprises should be restructured, rebranded, reconsider their business models, and acquire technology-based firms. This paper contributes to CSR literature in the context of emerging economies. Firms, policymakers, and practitioners may take steps to improve CSR practice. In general, we conclude that in Ethiopia, including in the Amhara region, socially responsible corporate enterprises are more likely to be successful, and vice versa.

The role of corporate governance in financial institutions differs from that of non- financial institutions for the discretionary power of the board of directors would be limited especially in regulated financial systems where financial institutions are obliged to function through legislative and prescriptive procedures, policies, rules and regulations. This study, therefore, was aimed at examining the impact of corporate governance on the performance of closely regulated Ethiopian insurance Industry. The study employed explanatory research design with an econometric panel data of 10 Insurance companies that covers the period 2007 to 2014. Board size, board independence and board diversity have negative and insignificant effect on the performance of insurance companies while size and independence of audit committee and frequency of board meetings have positive but insignificant effect on the performance of insurance companies in Ethiopia. Thus it could be concluded that all corporate governance mechanisms have insignificant effect on the performance of insurance companies measured by return on asset. This vividly affirms that the role of board of directors in closely regulated financial sector is dismal and insignificant for they have limited discretionary power to exercise as board of directors. Thus it would be recommendable if the regulatory body could relax its prescriptive and stringent policies and devolve its power to board of directors without endangering the viability of insurance companies.

Literatures based on developed countries suggest an interaction of internal audit with management has impact on the internal-external audit linkages and the interactions and linkages have their own contribution toward the realization of good corporate governance. Nevertheless, these interactions have not been sufficiently explored in developing countries such as Ethiopia. This quantitative research examines in the form of explanatory study the interaction of internal audit with management and its impact on the internal- external audit linkages in Ethiopia. By doing so, it explained the causal relationship between variables through hypothesis testing. The research method of this study was a constructed questionnaire, which was sent to companies and to the 100 top management, internal auditors, and external auditors in Ethiopia. As it has been examined, existing findings suggest that organizations can enhance corporate governance’s effectiveness by strengthening the interactions of internal audit with management and in the meantime as the result of this impact by upgrading the internal-external audit linkages. In line with this, the results indicate interactions of internal audit with management depend on the level of the result of internal audits’ effectiveness, as the result, it positively moderates the internal-external audit linkages.

Whilst some literature is of the view that; it is nearly impossible to cultivate good corporate governance culture in state-owned enterprises (SOEs), others believe that new strategies of implementing corporate governance systems together with political will can deliver SOEs out of their efficiency doldrums. This paper presents a scientific analysis of the contentious view on the possibility of creating efficient governance mechanisms in SOEs, explores the effective cost for governance failures in SOEs in Kenya, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Ethiopia. The paper makes conclusions and recommendation that the determinant factor to the success of SOEs in African countries is underpinned on the response of central government to the challenges of SOEs. Structural reforms, good governance, clear objectives and efficiency requires governments to take a decisive position. As a lasting remedial action, knowing which entities and when to offload them through privatisation, is an option in addressing the governance challenges in African SOEs. For strategic SOEs, the paper recommends that governments should consider listing them on public stock exchanges.

The traditional approach to innovation assessment has mainly focused on the economic outcomes and failed to capture the ecological and social dimensions of sustainability. By giving high attention to the role of specific kind of innovation (technological innovation), there is little empirical work on whether combining different kinds of innovation leads to progress in social-ecological sustainability in developing countries. The sustainability orientation in the assessment of innovation performance becomes increasingly important for achieve successful transformation towards sustainability. The research question of this study is under what condition or combination of conditions the intervention for innovation reconciles the trade-offs between socioeconomic and ecological performance and thus improve progress towards sustainability in poor countries. Combing concepts and methods from literature on strategic corporate social responsibility (CSR), value chain upgrading, sustainability, and technological capability, this study identifies different mechanisms and conditions for building innovation capacity and then empirically evaluates the relationship between the degree of innovation capacity and the progress towards social-ecological sustainability by taking four cases from Ethiopia. The data for this study is collected using key informant interviews, focus group discussion, and biodiversity and innovation scorecard questionnaire. Mixed methods combing comprehensive fuzzy evaluation, biodiversity scorecard and qualitative comparative analysis are used for analysis. The study found that combing value chain innovation and green governance innovation either with technological upgrading or innovation platform learning are sufficient conditions for achieving social-ecological sustainability. We also found that innovation in green governance and in value chain are necessary conditions for sustainability. By developing and applying fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model for measuring innovation capacity and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis for identifying necessary and sufficient conditions for sustainability, this study made an important methodological contribution to existing literature.

Alors qu’une majorité de travaux se concentre sur les mécanismes de contrôle ainsi que l’éthique autour des pratiques managériales, peu d’études empiriques s’intéressent à l’apparition, l’efficacité ou l’adéquation de ces mécanismes dans le contexte dans lequel ils s’appliquent. Nous avons mené notre étude sur le cas particulier du secteur du cuir en Éthiopie afin de comprendre comment naissent les mécanismes de gouvernance et leur influence dans la performance des entreprises. La thèse a donc pour objectif la mise en évidence et l’analyse des mécanismes de gouvernance sur un territoire spécifique en se concentrant sur les employés. Si les employés sont une partie prenante de l’entreprise, alors leur prise en compte dans les mécanismes de gouvernance doit influer sur la performance de l’entreprise. Se posent alors les problèmes de qualification de la performance, des modalités de cette prise en compte et de l’évaluation de ses effets, ainsi que leur inclusion dans un contexte culturel conçu dans sa profondeur historique
While a majority of the work focuses on the control mechanisms and the ethics around management practices, few empirical studies focus on the emergence, effectiveness or appropriateness of these mechanisms in the context in which they apply. We conducted our study on the specific case of the leather sector in Ethiopia to understand how governance mechanisms are born and what their influence on business performance is. The thesis objective is thus the identification and analysis of governance mechanisms in a specific territory by focusing on employees. If employees are an integral part of the business, their inclusion in the governance mechanisms should influence the company's performance. This raises the issue on how to qualify performance, the terms of employees’ consideration, the evaluation of its effects and their inclusion in a cultural context conceived in its historical depth

Corporate governance has been a hot bed for scholars from diverse disciplines. Managers whose interests are not congruent with that of shareholders‟ do not have the incentive to maximize shareholder value. Agency theory implicitly assumes corporations as arenas of the principal-agent conflict. On the other hand, organizational perspectives maintain that firms differ in their adopted corporate governance level depending on the environmental contingencies in which they operate. This study develops a contingency framework by synthesizing agency theory and organization theory. The aims of this study are to examine the effect of firm level contingencies on corporate governance and examine the moderating impact of firm level contingencies on the relationship between corporate governance and firm financial performance in the Ethiopian non-financial share companies. Data were collected from public and private sources for 42 companies covering the period 2009-2013. For the first time overall corporate governance index is constructed from board structure, ownership structure, and disclosure and transparency. By specifying fixed effect regression models the study accounts for the presence of unobserved firm heterogeneity. Moreover, a moderation fixed effect model is specified for the corporate governance-performance relationship. Results show that firms choose their corporate governance in response to contexts in which they operate. High-risk firms have good corporate governance. Corporate governance is enhanced if the largest owner is government or bank. Findings show not only the positive influence of corporate governance on financial performance but also the positive effect of corporate governance on financial performance is enhanced where there are high agency problems. Firm growth, firm level risk and identity of the largest shareholder moderate the relationship between corporate governance and firm financial performance. The study contributes to the literature by providing evidence that firms endogenously choose their corporate governance and the effect of corporate governance on performance depends on firm level contingencies. For practice, the positive link between corporate governance and financial performance informs us that instituting and enforcing corporate governance should be taken seriously. Areas that require priority include the legal frameworks and their enforcement, additional corporate governance standards, strong financial market particularly a stock market. Future research can build on the limitations of the study. For instance, researchers can increase the sample size, compare industries or perform cross-country studies.
Business Management
DBL

Corporate governance has received considerable attention over the past few decades especially after several corporate scandals and global financial crises surfaced. It is a tool that ensures the wealth maximization interest of shareholders (Grove & Clouse, 2015; Gupta, 2015). Several studies on corporate governance have been made around the world, mostly in the context of developed nations. These have made significant contributions to the corporate governance literature and practice. However, there is scant research that addresses corporate governance issues in the context of emerging economies. In terms of applicability, it is important to view corporate governance not as a whole but in the context of specific fashion due to the economic, political, social and cultural differences among countries. In spite of the numerous studies in the subject and their contributions, a significant gap exists in our understanding of the relationship between corporate governance structure, process and board performances. Most of the prior studies focused on board structure giving much less emphasis to the board process- the missing link. By way of addressing the gap and providing a broader understanding of the relationship among the corporate governance variables, this study, among others, explored how board structure and board process influence the board performance in an emerging market economy context. Board performance has hardly been explored in this setting and this study tries to contribute to the existing literature by examining the antecedents of the boards‟ performance. The antecedents are positioned in the second order constructs that include the board structure and the board process. The antecedents with the board structure go beyond the usual variables of size, CEO duality and the outside/inside directors‟ ratio. A mixed method approach was used in the collection and analysis of the data. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from private and public banks‟ governing bodies and various groups of stakeholders. The quantitative data were mainly analyzed statistically using the Partial Least Square method of the Structural Equation Modeling. The qualitative data obtained from the survey and the interviews were thematically analyzed to identify important concerns. The findings from the quantitative data analysis showed that board structure has positive and significant influence on board process, board service and control v task performance. The findings also indicated a positive and significant relationship between board process and both board service and control task performance. Furthermore, the study revealed that board process mediates the relationships between board structure and both board service and control roles; it was also found that ownership type affects board performance but has no influence on company performance. The stakeholders‟ perceptions of various aspects of corporate governance practices, as beginners, were found out to be not bad. However, Ethiopia, like many emerging market economies, does not yet have a fully developed legal and regulatory system. Additionally, the enforcement capacities of the regulatory organ are at a nascent stage, and a private sector that is able to support effective corporate governance has yet to emerge. The nature of the Ethiopian banking corporate governance system can be characterized by a one tier system with a non-executive board of directors and ownership concentration. The boards of directors are also mainly control oriented rather than strategic or service oriented leaders.
Graduate School of Business Leadership (SBL)
D.B.L.