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Today's corporate world has realized the importance of spending a share of profit towards societal well-being and environmental protection. In line with that realization, the Indian Companies Act 2013 under Section 135 made that spending mandatory. This paper empirically tested the compliance level of Indian corporates in terms of allocation of firms' earnings and the extent of utilization of the same towards Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities. Companies have started accounting for the unspent amount every year. Besides, analysis and results of this paper reveal that there is a positive relationship between CSR spending and firm's profit. It was witnessed empirically by analyzing four years' data of Nifty 50 and BSE 30 companies. Panel regression and Gaussian Mixture models were used and tested. It is found that both the NSE and BSE listed companies' previous year CSR spending had a positive impact on the current year's profits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates whether there is evidence to support the concept that variations in observed ownership structures across firms result in methodical variations in observed financial performance in the Indian market. The study assesses the impact of ownership structure on corporate performance measured by both the market-based measures (Tobin’s Q, MBVR and MVA) and accounting-based measures (ROA, ROCE and ROE) of 178 NSE CNX listed nonfinancial companies for a period of 8 years from 2011 to 2018. Two different aspects of ownership structure are considered, i.e., concentration and owner identity. The results of the study could help the Indian companies, regulators, policymakers, and practitioners to adopt and sustain good corporate governance practices for value creation and for making them ready to meet the future changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of Corporate Governance (CG) variables on firm performance, and studies if the relation is different for State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and private enterprises. The study examined 53 listed Indian firms, wherein 33 are private and the remaining are SOEs for the period 2011 to 2019, using multivariate regression analysis. The CG variables used in the study are independent director, non-executive directors, meetings, audit committee, and board size. Further, the study provides evidence that among all the CG variables, independent director and audit committee are found to be significant and this relation remains consistent in both types of firms: SOEs and private. The study concludes that the overall performance of SOEs is less than that of the private firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporate Governance (CG) is a set of principles and guidelines by which a company is governed. CG fundamentally involves consideration of the interests of a company's stakeholders, such as shareholders, senior management executives, customers and suppliers, financiers, the government, and the community. CG practices safeguards the interests of all stakeholders in the long run. The collapse of CG in business conglomerates has necessitated stern policies in order to uphold transparency and fair corporate practices. The need for the study has been the deficiency of research on CG influencing family business. This paper discusses the relationship of CG variables and Firm Performance (FP) measured by three dependent variables, Tobin's Q, ROA and ROE, in Indian family business listed on S&P Nifty-500 index. The study considered 86 family-owned firms selected from top 100 firms from the Nifty-500 index by market capitalization. The sample consists of five years' data from 2014 to 2019. The paper analyzes the relationship of CG variables such as board size, board independence, CEO duality, board meetings, and ownership structure to firm performance of the Indian family business listed on Nifty-500 index by using panel data Ordinary Least Square (OLS) model. The results show that most of the independent variables are significantly related to firm value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study examines the impact of Corporate Governance (CG) determinants on a firm's default risk and profitability for mid, small and large-cap Indian companies. In this paper, the authors examine the Indian firms' probability of default and their profitability depending on CG determinants by studying data on two dependent and 15 independent variables for 125 companies indexed in Nifty's (Indian stock exchange). We used panel data, panel regression model, and Altman test as statistical tools for analysis. The results show that defaulting companies have a higher concentration of ownership, lower voting interest, poorer financial transparency, and less efficient board composition. The findings also suggest the significance of considering the comprehensive use of CG information in corporate credit decisions, ultimately affecting the profitability determining Return on Assets (ROA) and Return on Net Worth (RONW) of the firm. Large-cap, mid-cap, and small-cap companies should include information on CG in their default prediction models for better performance, in addition to the financial information. This paper extends the present literature within the Indian context, particularly by examining Firm Performance (FP) and financial distress risk to the extent of CG mechanisms adopted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper attempts to discover the interrelationships between Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility (CG and CSR) through different aspects. The reason behind the attempt is to analyze how the companies have postulated CG and CSR in their philosophies. Is there any difference between the outlooks of companies toward CG and CSR? How did the companies in their philosophy statements address the issues and dimensions of CG and CSR? The paper tries to explore various propositions on the relationship between CG and CSR through content analysis. The data for content analysis is obtained from annual reports of Nifty 50 companies. The reports are scanned for CG and CSR philosophy statements of companies with respect to marking the presence of a word, a sentence, a statement, a phrase or an idiom complementing any of the dimensions of CG and CSR identified for coding. A huge overlap between CG and CSR is found that demonstrated a two-way relationship significantly impacting each other. The study urges to see both the aspects as complementary to each other in the best interests of the company, stakeholder, and nation as a whole. The study gives an overview of the philosophies of companies representing the economic barometer of the country in terms of governance and social responsibility that can be useful for assessing the strengths of CG and CSR interrelationship in Indian companies. It samples the philosophies of companies with respect to both the aspects of CG and CSR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impact of the composition of board of directors on firm performance using UK FTSE All-Shares non-financial firms for the period before and during the latest global financial crisis. The main hypotheses tested were whether board composition, namely, board size and board independence, has an impact on firm performance, using Tobin's Q (TQ) and Return on Assets (ROA). Univariate and multivariate (including 2SLS regression) were carried out to test these hypotheses. The results suggested a high positive association between board size and TQ, and insignificant association between board size and ROA, while some evidence was found for the impact of an independent board on firm performance. The results also found a negative association between blockholdings and performance during the financial crisis in 2008, whilst an insignificant relationship was observed before 2008. The paper contributes to prior research by providing year by year analysis to the relationship between board composition and performance prior to and during the financial crisis and considering the impact of large shareholders (in particular institutional shareholders) on mitigating agency costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the light of the growing importance of Corporate Governance (CG) in academic and industrial research, the present paper aims to answer the question: Does corporate governance impact Firm Performance and Firm Risk? Multivariate regression analysis was conducted on three models to answer the question, with firm performance and firm risk being the dependent variables. Different CG mechanisms (Board Composition, Board Size, Frequency of Meetings and Audit Committee) were considered as independent variables. The results of the regression analysis postulate that board composition, frequency of meetings and audit committee significantly impact the firm performance i.e., Return on Assets (ROA) and Profit Margin (PM). Board composition was also found to have a significant impact on firm risk where we used Beta as a proxy measure. Overall, the objective of the study was met, as all the three models showcase significant results. The present study provides important insights into fair CG practice, with scope for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the various approaches used in a number of empirical studies for measuring Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Corporate Financial Performance (CFP) to find out measurement challenges. This study also investigates alternative strategic approaches for measuring CSR and CFP. In this study, various empirical research papers are intensively reviewed to investigate which measurement approach is appropriate to incorporate in future research. It was found that CSR is being strategically utilized in many ways such as unidimensional to multidimensional in the empirical literature. Besides, multidimensional CSR measurement approaches, employed in different forms like reputation indices, questionnaire-based survey, content analysis and unidimensional approach have been used in various studies. Accountingbased variables and market-based variables have been utilized for measuring firm performance. The findings also show that no CSR measurement approach is without limitations. In addition, most of the approaches face two problems, namely, researcher's subjectivity and biasness in selection, which may affect the nature of CSR-CFP relationship results. This study suggests that potential measures should be taken up to overcome these limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between corporate governance and performance of the organization in listed Indian hospitality firms using the corporate governance index. The corporate governance annual reports and financial reports of 236 organizations on the basis of random sampling method are selected from Center for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) database. The study uses Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) of corporate governance index of the selected listed companies. The results of the study establish a significant relationship between corporate governance index and financial performance of the selected firms. The corporate governance index, viz., Board Size (BS), Board Duality (BD), Women Director on Board (WD), Independent Director (ID), Non-Independent Director (NID), Executive Director (ED), Non-Executive Director (NED), Total Committee (Tc), and Number of Independent Directors in Total Committee (NoIDTc) played a significant role in the organizational performance of hospitality firms. The results of the study recommend compliance of corporate governance norms by the firms for achieving better financial results. The mandatory corporate governance compliance as per Clause 49 of 2013 Act ensures better governance of firms and can ensure transparency, professionalism, merit and objectivity in the functioning. Good governance ensures better financial results for the firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India is one of the countries where a large proportion of businesses are family-owned. These family firms are much respected as they immensely contribute to the economic and societal growth of the country. This paper provides a comprehensive investigation of the relationship between corporate governance structure and firm performance in Indian family firms. The hypotheses are empirically tested on a firm level panel data of 948 business groups in India which was collected from Prowess Database of Center for Monitoring of Indian Economy (CMIE), which contains data on all the Indian listed companies. This study will help to design special policy measures for companies which are managed by the family. The study indicates significant effects of different corporate governance characteristics on the firm performance and concludes that corporate governance is important for appropriate synchronization between the business and family and to become adaptive so as to take positive changes. The results provide a foundation on which we can build future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to examine the relationship between the CEO duality (one person serving the role of both chairman of the board and CEO) and firm performance. Existing literature on CEO duality is based on two theories of corporate governance. While agency theory suggests that CEO duality negatively affects performance, stewardship theory favors CEO duality and argues that it positively impacts the firm performance. The present paper adds to the existing literature by employing panel data of 145 non-financial companies listed on National Stock Exchange of India for a period of five years, i.e., 2008-2012. Firm performance has been measured using Tobin's Q as a market-based measure, and Return on Equity (ROE) as accountingbased measure. Panel data is analyzed using fixed effect within and Least Square Dummy Variable (LSDV) model, random effect model and Feasible Generalized Least Square (FGLS) model. The paper concludes that when Tobin's Q is used as performance measure, the presence of CEO duality has a negative impact on firm performance. In case of ROE, the relationship is negative with fixed effect model and significantly negative with FGLS model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of sustainable and responsible investment strategies has significantly risen due to the increasing cognizance concerning environmental stability and socioeconomic development of countries. Responsible investment strategies take Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) aspects into investment consideration to enhance risk management and generate sustainable yields for investors. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of ESG factors on the performance of Indian public limited companies in terms of profitability and the value of the firm through multiple measures of return on asset and Tobin's Q ratio. The authors used annual ESG data of 65 Indian firms listed on the NSE 100 ESG Index database, covering the period from 2015 to 2017. Random effect panel data regression analysis was used to test the influence of ESG factors on the economic performance of the firms. The findings of the study indicate that good corporate ESG performance enhances financial performance evaluated through accounting as well as marketbased measures. The findings have practical implications for corporates, investors, regulators, as well as policymakers. The study highlights the need for adoption of sustainability reporting, including disclosure of ESG scores. This would go a long way in improving sustainable business practices and long-term viability of the shareholders' wealth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper attempts to examine the influence and relationship of corporate governance attributes with regard to accountability of corporate governance practices for insurance companies in Labuan International Business and Financial Centre. The findings of the study reveal that rules and regulations disclosure practice, directors' qualifications and experiences, and audit committee's effectiveness are found to be the key factors that influence the corporate governance regime. In all, the paper concludes that there is substantial scope for improvement in the current practices and suggests that effective corporate governance system is crucial to enhancing the performance of a firm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines whether board diversity improves corporate performance by considering different parameters of diversity such as gender, age, tenure, nationality, educational background and experience of the directors. No significant link between board heterogeneity and financial performance in Indian firms is found. The possible explanation for this may be that diversity in teams often leads to conflicts, adversely affecting performance unless properly managed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, many publicly traded companies have started using Internet as a new channel to inform current and potential investors about their performance, which has resulted in firm benefits such as enhanced market exposure, increased analyst coverage and institutional following. This paper investigates the extent to which Indian listed companies use the Internet for Investor Relations (IR) purposes. To achieve this goal, a website investigation of the 50 Indian companies listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and which constitute a part of S&P CNX Nifty is carried out. The objective of the paper is to identify the stage Indian listed companies are in as regards the Internet usage for disclosing information to their investors. To fulfill the same, the websites of select 50 companies have been extensively studied and analyzed on six broad premises, namely, website content, navigation, usage of multimedia devices, site interactivity, timeliness and regulatory entanglement issues. The results suggest that Indian companies have been able to take only partial advantage of Internet and have badly failed in fulfilling the parameters pertaining to usage of multimedia devices and interactivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethics refers to moral demands regarding the business and is based on a theory of the relationship between business and society. Ethics is a good business investment that generates trust and confidence between the parties and in turn guarantees long-term performance. Corporate identity is formed in the way a company manages the stakeholder claims through its values and actions. This paper attempts to define different nonfinancial parameters of ethical identity based on corporate governance, corporate social responsibility and sustainability and measure the extent of ethical practices followed in selected companies based on these parameters. Using Kruskal Wallis analysis, it was found that there is a significant difference between different industries in following and reporting ethical practices in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study examines the relationship between debt financing and firm performance through the lens of agency costs during the Covid-19 period for standalone firms and firms affiliated with business groups. It does the same for firms engaged in manufacturing and services. Using 4,422 firm-year observations from nonfinancial firms from 2014 to 2020, the study finds that business group firms raised more new debt vis-à-vis standalone firms. On the other hand, service sector firms raised more debt than manufacturing firms. The findings suggest that agency costs declined during the Covid-19 shock, enabling firms to raise debt primarily to increase their liquidity during an uncertain period. Companies had a substantial amount of cash meant for investments in the future. Under these circumstances, corporate governance mechanisms should be strong to prevent the misallocation/misappropriation of funds, thus reducing future agency costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present paper is to analyze the motivations and consequences of employee ownership practices in Tunisia. To reach this end, it focuses on three prominent questions: (1) Could employee share ownership plans align employees' interests with those of shareholders?; (2) Could they promote mutual assistance and cooperation between different stakeholders of one company?; and (3) Could they increase motivation and peer pressure in the organization? It appears from the approach that implementation of employee share plans, along with various organizational factors, characteristics of management policies, human resources and forms of support, is likely to affect different organizational performances of the company. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporate governance mechanisms are being widely researched for their impact on different measures of corporate performance. Board structure being a dominant means of monitoring and governance for sustaining the competition and improving financial and overall performance, forms an integral part of these mechanisms. The present paper explores the size of the board as a governance method and its relationship with Initial Public Offering (IPO) performance, IPOs being a unique setting to establish the contribution of corporate governance in general and boards in specific. The study investigates specifically board size to explore its independence as a governance mechanism and contribution in explaining the initial returns of an IPO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study assesses the impact of institutional investor heterogeneity on firm performance in emerging economies. The sample consists of a panel dataset of 219 firms listed on the major stock exchanges of five leading emerging economies in the world (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—BRICS). The findings reveal that institutional investors significantly influence the performance of firms in BRICS countries. Based on stake size, large institutional investors are positively related to firm performance, whereas small investors negatively impact firm performance. On the other hand, based on the business relationship with the investee firm, pressure-sensitive investors negatively impact firm performance, whereas pressure-insensitive investors are only weakly related to firm performance. Further, another category of activist pressure-insensitive institutional investors is strongly associated with firm performance. In light of limited studies in emerging economies, the study’s findings seek to provide new and original empirical evidence on the monitoring role of institutional investors in emerging economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporate governance concerns the interests of all its stakeholders. It determines the system of rules and practices under which a company operates. Ethical business practices are carried out under good corporate governance, which leads to good financial performance. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) believes that companies having good corporate governance score are rewarded by investors and markets with high valuations. The study provides an overview of the concept of corporate governance through a survey of important previous research and seeks to establish a relationship between corporate governance and financial performance of firms. The study has taken a sample of companies from BSE 100 Index and examined the connection between corporate governance and firm performance as determined by profitability over the short term. The direction of causality in the given relationship has been determined using statistical tools such as hypothesis testing, data analysis and regression. Hypothesis testing has been done on four different sectors--FMCG, Investment Banking, IT and Petroleum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the impact of corporate governance practices on Related Party Transactions (RPTs) for a sample of BSE 500 companies in India. The findings of this study advance the earlier understanding that good corporate governance practices inhibit RPTs. Further, the study suggests that the composition of board with active independent directors and compensation structure of Key Management Persons (KMPs) mainly contributes towards inhibiting RPTs. In addition, contrary to earlier studies, auditor compensation and frequency of board meetings were found not to significantly impact RPTs. Finally, deviation of board size from average industry level board size was found to promote RPTs. The implication for stakeholders is also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aims at finding a relationship between audit committee characteristics and firm performance of companies listed on the Indian Stock Exchange. Fixed Effect Panel Data Regression was employed on the data of 178 companies for a period of eight years. The results found that the audit committee characteristics (size, independence, and number of meetings) are in significant positive relationship with Tobin's Q, a market-based performance measure. However, only the impact of audit committee size is found to have a positive and significant impact on Return on Equity (ROE). The number of board level committee meetings has a positive and significant impact on Tobin's Q and negative and significant impact on ROE. The results of the present study can be used by policymakers and regulators who are involved directly or indirectly in pondering corporate governance reforms. The results are also beneficial for the managers, investors, and minority shareholders as they are concerned with the performance of the firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the study is to investigate the effect of ownership structure on the accounting-based performance of the Indian corporate sector. The study employs panel data regression for establishing an association between ownership and firm's performance on a sample of 40 companies listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) for the period of seven years, i.e., 2013-14 to 2019-20. By using cross-sectional time-series Feasible Generalized Least Squares (FGLS) regression, it is observed that foreign ownership and government ownership have a positive impact on the financial performance (ROA and ROCE), while directors' ownership exerts a negative effect on ROA and ROCE. The study found a positive impact of liquidity ratio and a negative effect of the leverage ratio and firm size. The study did not find an association between institutional ownership and corporate ownership with financial performance. This study contributes to the existing financial literature and will benefit the shareholders and other stakeholders in better understanding the ownership structure and its implication on accounting-based financial performance. This study employs a range of ownership structure measures, instead of focusing on a single measure. Furthermore, different types of panel data regression techniques are used in the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inconclusive studies on ownership pattern and its effect on profitability of firms make it compulsory to learn about the impact of women directors' ownership on the performance of Indian firms. Studies have been conducted on the mechanism by which the ownership structure is formed and is being premeditated for interassociations amidst corporate ownership and physiognomies of board structure. Previous studies have investigated the relationship among various parties within a firm and the impact on performance through Agency theory, as this theory leads to separation of ownership and control. But the results are rather mixed. Taking a proportional sample of companies from four major industries, this study attempts to find the impact of women directors on the board on the performance of firms. Based on women directors' ownership, i.e., taking the number of women directors, independent women directors, non-executive women directors, qualification, age and marital status as independent variable, its impact on the performance of Indian firms was measured, using ROA, Tobin's Q and Net Worth. The study concludes that there is a positive relation between women directors on board and firm performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women constitute half of the potential talent throughout the world and therefore it is important that they should lead on the economic and social fronts. Many countries across the world have realized that sustainable development of the country is possible only if they make optimum utilization of this talent pool as well. Section 149 of the Companies Act, 2013 and Clause 49 of SEBI guidelines mandated all listed companies in India to appoint at least one woman director from April 1, 2015 in a bid to bring in gender diversity on the boards in India. The percentage of women attending colleges, postgraduating and obtaining doctorate degrees has increased in the last decade in India. However, still the Indian corporate boards find it tough to find and appoint qualified women directors. The old boys' club is still predominant in the Indian boardrooms and still resisting accepting women at leadership positions in the corporate world. Gender diversity in the boardroom is not only about fair treatment but also about tapping the potential talent which is essential for the sustainable development of the organization and the world at large. Several research studies across the world have found a positive impact of gender diversity at the board level on the financial performance of the company. In this regard, this study was conducted with 14 NSE- listed companies of mining and minerals sector of India. The study found that women were either not represented at board level or underrepresented before the quota system was introduced under the Companies Act, 2013. The study further examined the financial performance of companies before and after the mandatory requirement of appointment of at least one woman director on board, over the period of four consecutive financial years from 2013 to 2017, which revealed that the presence of women directors on boards did not significantly impact the financial performance of companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the relationship between corporate governance and technical efficiency of listed commercial banks of Pakistan over the period 2008-2015. The study employs a two-stage methodology. In the first stage, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) has been used to compute the technical efficiency of banks. In the second stage, random-effect Tobit regression is used to examine the impact of corporate governance (measured through board size, board independence, board diligence, ownership concentration and ownership type) on the technical efficiency of banks. It is observed that there is a mixed trend in the technical efficiency of commercial banks of Pakistan during the period 2008-2015. During 2008-2010, a decrease in average technical efficiency of banks was observed, and this may be due to the global financial crisis. Then an increase in average technical efficiency was observed, which means that the banks were recovering steadily. In the second stage, the results of random-effects Tobit regression show that ownership concentration has a positive and significant impact on technical efficiency. The firms with presence of foreign ownership are more efficient than local firms. No statistically significant relationship was observed between board meeting, board size, executive directors and technical efficiency. Among the control variables, bank's age was found to be positively and significantly, and bank's size was found to be negatively and significantly related to technical efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The significance of corporate governance has increased in the recent past due to factors like increase in corporate scandals. Such scandals tend to increase the risk of the stakeholders to a great extent. While stakeholders have the capability to influence the forbearance and performance of an organization, such impact varies with the industry. This study makes an endeavor to find the impact of promoter holding, institutional holding and individual holding on firm performance by analyzing several diverse industries. Seven industries are considered in the Indian context for the purpose of this study, taking ROA as a major performance indicator. The results show positively significant effect of some stakeholders, while negative for the others, substantiating the need for more research in the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]