This paper examines the relationship between governance variables and voluntary intellectual capital disclosure in a sample of European biotechnology firms. We extend previous research by simultaneously considering governance mechanisms such as the proportion of independent directors, board dimension, CEO duality, and board structure in relationship to voluntary disclosure on intellectual capital. We understand voluntary disclosure as a multidimensional and complex concept and, hence, use the semantic properties of the information disclosed, and on the content of information, as proxies for the quality of disclosure.Our results suggest that governance-related variables strongly influence the quantity of information disclosed, thus confirming our hypotheses. In regard to the quality of disclosure, our results show that (1) the proportion of independent directors is positively related to the disclosure of internal structure, (2) CEO duality is negatively linked to the disclosure of forward-looking information, and (3) board structure helps to improve the annual report's overall readability. We contribute to agency theory by indicating that corporate governance mechanisms and voluntary disclosure can be used strategically to reduce agency conflicts. The results of this study might be of interest to regulators, investment analysts, and market participants.

Virtually all developing, transitioning, and emerging-market economies are faced with one pressing concern at the moment: how to establish the groundwork for long-term economic performance and competitiveness in a diverse market. However, without the existence of good corporate governance in these economies, small enterprise will cease to exist in developing countries. Corporate Governance Models and Applications in Developing Economies is a collection of innovative research that contributes to the better understanding of corporate governance models by documenting the structures, principles, tenets, case studies, and applications for the development of good business practices in developing economies. While highlighting topics including risk management, financial distress, and insider trading, this book is ideally designed for corporate managers, executives, economists, strategists, investors, shareholders, students, researchers, academicians, business professionals, and policymakers.

Present days economic situations are changing rapidly. In view of liberalization, globalization and privatization, the business organization is more towards following the system which not only caters to the national standard but also to cater information needed by the stakeholders to make decisions about the corporates. Prior studies are underlining that traditional information provided by the companies in the annual reports are not sufficient for the stakeholders to reach into the right decision. Hence the importance of disclosing additional information on intellectual capital and social, environment and governance practices of companies arisen. Such disclosure can give a further hand for the company on the market price and the previous studies are identified that the difference between one company's book value and market value is the effect made by the IC of the company. This paper is given an attempt to identify the extent of intellectual capital disclosure and the nexus between intellectual capital disclosure and corporate governance disclosure of IT companies in India. The study has revealed that the IT companies in India are decently reporting the information on IC for the selected period and the companies are giving more importance for relational capital. The current study identified that there have a significant relationship with IC disclosure and corporate governance disclosure practices among the selected companies.

This research focuses on industry characteristics and their impact on corporate governance and disclosure practices of firms. Nature of industry characteristics divides firms into two broad categories: intellectual capital (IC) intensive firms and capital intensive firms. Accordingly, this research studies the corporate governance and disclosure practices of firms listed in Indian stock market representing different sectors from both categories. The study has taken six sectors into consideration - Power, Oil & Gas, and Metal, along with Health Care, IT and FMCG. These sectors are segregated into high capital intensity (low IC intensity) and low capital intensity (high IC intensity) sectors depending on nature of industry. This study aims to establish a relationship, if any, between IC intensity of firms and their corporate governance practices in Indian context. Research concludes that there is no difference between IC intensive firms and capital intensive firms with respect to corporate governance and disclosure practices. After thorough empirical research, the paper explains why Indian scenario is different from developed nations such as USA.

This study provides further insights on the key corporate governance drivers of intellectual capital (IC) disclosure in Egyptian companies. It uses IC disclosure index of three components; internal capital, external capital, and human capital to identify IC disclosure level in annual reports of the largest 100 companies listed in the Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX). Descriptive statistics, multivariate analysis, and the association between IC disclosure levels and three potential explanatory corporate governance characteristics namely: (i) board composition, (ii) ownership structure, and (iii) audit committee provide the basis for discussion. The results suggest that blockholders' ownership, government ownership and audit committee are the explanatory variables that could have significant impact on voluntary intellectual capital disclosure by Egyptian companies, whereas board independence, and management ownership has no impact on IC disclosure. Additionally, firm size and leverage do influence IC disclosure levels in Egyptian companies. The survey results may assist regulators to understand the impact of corporate governance factors on companies' IC voluntary disclosure levels and thereby help them specify ways to regulate disclosure on IC in an attempt to improve the quality of information disclosed to stakeholders.