This multi-disciplinary volume provides a critical examination of corporate governance reform in Southeast Asia especially after the Asian financial crisis in 1997. The weaknesses in the corporate sector, such as poor investment structure, weak legal and accounting systems, faulty financial practices, and questionable political interventions, are some of the pertinent issues raised by the authors, who include legal specialists, corporate practitioners, economists, and political scientists. Policy measures to improve corporate transparency, institutional accountability, and fiscal prudence are also proposed. The volume provides interested readers and policy-makers in Southeast Asia with the most current research and policy options on corporate governance reform, and advocates more committed and effective governance changes in the future.

This book analyzes state-owned enterprises (SOEs), which are still significant players in many Asian economies. They provide essential public services, build and operate key infrastructure, and are often reservoirs of public employment. Their characteristics and inherent competitive advantages as publicly owned enterprises allow them to play these critical roles. Their weaknesses in governance and inefficiencies in incentive structures, however, also often lead to poor performance. SOEs must be efficient, transparent, and accountable to level the playing field for private companies, secure the growth of a vibrant private sector, and achieve sustained and inclusive economic growth. This book analyzes the reform of SOEs in Asia, the results of which are mixed. The volume concludes that some key conditions generally need to be met for SOE reforms to be successful: national bureaucracies must have the capacity to implement the reforms, and adverse impacts on international trade and investment must be avoided.

This multi-disciplinary volume provides a critical examination of corporate governance reform in Southeast Asia especially after the Asian financial crisis in 1997. The weaknesses in the corporate sector, such as poor investment structure, weak legal and accounting systems, faulty financial practices, questionable political interventions, are some of the pertinent issues raised by the authors, who include legal specialists, corporate practitioners, economists, and political scientists. Policy measures to improve corporate transparency, institutional accountability, and fiscal prudence are also proposed. The volume provides interested readers and policy-makers in Southeast Asia with the most current research and policy options on corporate governance reform, and advocates more committed and effective governance changes in the future.

State-owned enterprises (SOEs) play significant roles in developing economies in Asia and SOE performance remains crucial for economy-wide productivity and growth. This book looks at SOEs in Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, the People's Republic of China, and Viet Nam, which together present a panoramic view of SOEs in the region. It also presents insights from the Republic of Korea on the evolving role of the public sector in various stages of development. It explores corporate governance challenges and how governments could reform SOEs to make them efficient drivers of the long-term productivity-induced growth essential to Asia's transition to high-income status.

Corporate governance principles provide guidance on how corporations should operate. Adoption of international corporate governance best practices leads to long-term sustainability and resilience, and can be a competitive tool to attract foreign investments. The Asian Development Bank, in partnership with the ASEAN Capital Markets Forum, have jointly developed the ASEAN Corporate Governance Scorecard, an assessment based on publicly available information and benchmarked against international best practices that encourage publicly listed companies to go beyond national legislative requirements. This report can be used by capital market regulators and other stakeholders as a reference to understand the current corporate governance standards across the region. It is also a useful diagnostic tool to guide improvement of corporate governance standards.