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Enforcement and Corporate Governance

Author

Listed:
  • Berglof, Erik
  • Claessens, Stijn
Abstract
Enforcement more than regulations, laws-on-the-books, or voluntary codes is key to effective corporate governance, at least in transition and developing countries. Corporate governance and enforcement mechanisms are intimately linked as they affect firms'ability to commit to their stakeholders, in particular to external investors. The authors provide a framework for understanding these links and how they are shaped by countries'institutional contexts. When the general enforcement environment is weak and specific enforcement mechanisms function poorly, as in many developing and transition countries, few of the traditional corporate governance mechanisms are effective. The principal consequence in these countries is a large block-holder, but there are important potential costs to this mechanism. A range of private and public enforcement"tools"can help reduce these costs and reinforce other supplementary corporate governance mechanisms. The limited empirical evidence suggests that private tools are more effective than public forms of enforcement in the typical environment of most developing and transition countries. However, public enforcement is necessary regardless, and private enforcement mechanisms often require public laws to function. Furthermore, in some countries at least, bottom-up, private-led tools preceded and even shaped public laws. Political economy constraints resulting from the intermingling of business and politics, however, often prevent improvementsin the general enforcement environment, and adoption and implementation of public laws in these countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Berglof, Erik & Claessens, Stijn, 2004. "Enforcement and Corporate Governance," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3409, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3409
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    Cited by:

    1. Bhatta, Bibek & Marshall, Andrew P. & Neupane-Joshi, Suman & Thapa, Chandra, 2021. "Foreign Ownership and the Enforcement of Corporate Governance Reforms," QBS Working Paper Series 2021/02, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's Business School.
    2. Bruno, Valentina & Claessens, Stijn, 2010. "Corporate governance and regulation: Can there be too much of a good thing?," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 461-482, October.
    3. Bibek Bhatta & Andrew Marshall & Suman Neupane & Chandra Thapa, 2022. "Foreign ownership and the enforcement of corporate governance reforms," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 541-580, February.
    4. Mazumdar, Surajit, 2008. "Crony Capitalism: Caricature or Category?," MPRA Paper 19626, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Estrin, Saul, 2020. "Towards a framework to understand the relative performance of state-owned firms," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 109830, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Claessens, Stijn, 2006. "Current challenges in financial regulation," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4103, The World Bank.
    7. Friedman, Felice B. & Grose, Claire, 2006. "Promoting access to primary equity markets : a legal and regulatory approach," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3892, The World Bank.
    8. Harabi, Najib, 2007. "State of Corporate Governance in Arab Countries: An Overview," MPRA Paper 4566, University Library of Munich, Germany.
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    12. Guney, Yilmaz & Karpuz, Ahmet & Komba, Gabriel, 2020. "The effects of board structure on corporate performance: Evidence from East African frontier markets," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    13. Al-Faryan, Mamdouh Abdulaziz Saleh, 2017. "The relationship between corporate governance mechanisms and the performance of Saudi listed firms," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 14(2-2), pages 338-349.
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