The governance of companies is of importance to developing countries due to the link between effective corporate governance and economic development. Ownership and control of public companies, except in the US and UK, is often in the hands of a few individuals, families or corporate groups and impact on corporate governance and economic development.Using Sri Lanka as an illustrative example, Corporate Ownership and Control sets out the implications of corporate ownership and control structures on the governance of companies, and suggests a reform agenda to meet the challenges posed by such structures. Any analysis into the reform of corporate governance in developing countries should begin with a focus on the local market structures that define its adaptation and effectiveness. The issues explored in the book provide an insight into ownership and control structures in Sri Lanka, the costs and benefits of such structures, and the necessary reform framework to promote effective corporate governance. The analysis can be used to both understand the impact of ownership structures on corporate governance, and suggest how corporate governance issues arising from such structures should be resolved in order to promote economic development and growth.

Apartheid South Africa was often thought to run in the interests of the business elite. Yet 27 years after apartheid, those business interests remain largely entrenched. Why? Did the South African business community play a role in engineering this outcome – perhaps recognising the apartheid era was over, and jumping ship in time? Conversely, the mission of the ANC was widely perceived to be to shift wealth and power into the hands of the whole community. Yet despite ‘black empowerment’ measures, corporate ownership remains largely in white hands – and certainly in the hands of an elite few, even though no longer restricted to whites. This picture is replicated across the global south, where corporate ownership tends to be concentrated in the hands of an elite, rather than being more democratically spread. Why have alternative corporate forms not been pursued more vigorously, with ownership in the hands of customers, employees, and local communities? In the case of South Africa, where the majority of customers and employees are black, this could have delivered on the ANC’s mission to replace the apartheid era with a democratic one – in terms of wealth, incomes and power, as well as in terms of voting and civic rights. This edited volume explores all these questions and looks at ways to align corporate forms with economic and social goals. The chapters in this book were originally published as special issues of International Review of Applied Economics.

Through a socio-legal lens, this book focuses on the feasibility of implementing board gender diversity rules in Sri Lanka. It demonstrates that board gender diversity rules could be a valuable tool for corporate governance development and to promote gender equality in society. The International Financial Institutions (IFIs) have reasoned that good corporate governance practices can develop the economy by attracting investors and securing foreign direct investment. Accordingly, these IFIs have included corporate governance reform as a condition for funding to developing countries. Among these reforms, board gender diversity is acknowledged as a legal concept that is capable of improving corporate governance practices and promoting gender equality in society. The benefits to corporate governance, often referred to as the economic benefits of the concept, are based on the contribution women directors can make towards advancing board effectiveness. The equality benefits underpinning this strategy depict the manner in which gender equality could be promoted by board gender diversity rules. Sri Lanka is thus an illustrative example of a developing country forced by IFIs to improve its corporate governance practices as a step towards advancing economic growth. However, the Sri Lankan legislators have not yet introduced board gender diversity rules as a measure to improve corporate governance practices within the country. This book addresses some of the ways in which board gender diversity rules could be introduced to Sri Lanka.

This study examines how internal governance structures in corporate organisations function in ensuring good corporate governance. It contributes to the extant art of knowledge by shedding light on how ownership and board control structures in corporate organisations operate to achieving good corporate governance in developing countries. Using interviews, observations and archival records, catholic and significant data is collected from four large quoted corporate organisations on the Ghana Stock Exchange for the analysis of the study. By linking the data to the theoretical propositions, the study reveals that these four corporate organisations are characterised by the presence of large shareholders and as a result, they tend to wield extensive control over the activities of the companies through their involvement in the decision-making processes. This sort of involvement by large shareholders in the decision-making processes of the companies is as a result of the incessant flow of information from the companies' management to them. However, whilst the presence of large shareholders has the tendency to solving the principal-agent problem, it poses challenges in regards to minority shareholders' interests in these corporate organisations. Small equity holders of the companies only rely on the minimum statutory disclosures in the annual reports of the companies and are always relegated to the background in times of information sharing. The study also highlights that boards of directors tend to exercise control over corporate organisations when majority shareholders stop interfering in their dealings. This implies that when major shareholders fully partake in corporate decision-making processes of companies, boards of directors seem to be sheer advisory bodies to management.

This study analyses the correlation between Board attributes and company performance in a sample of 100 Australian and 100 Sri Lankan firms. The analysed Board attributes include size; gender ratio; fraction of non-independent members; and experience. The level of economic development considered to have a potential confounding effect on the outcomes. The analysis of the data suggest that: Boards in Australia are much larger than Boards in Sri Lanka; Boards are male dominated in both nations; and while Board structure provides predictive insight into firm performance, only a few individual attributes are significant. Important finding of this research is that the larger Boards of Australia have a significantly stronger influence on firm performance than the relatively smaller Boards of Sri Lanka. Future research should extend the review of the effects of Board size on corporate performance.