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Challenges in the Era of Globalization - iaabd

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<strong>Challenges</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Era</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Globalization</strong><br />

Edited by Emmanuel Obuah<br />

duality role, board compensation, etc, all <strong>of</strong> which have association with agency problem and agency<br />

costs, and can be used to assess <strong>the</strong> effectiveness <strong>of</strong> a listed company.<br />

Data Organization and Process<strong>in</strong>g:<br />

Data for <strong>the</strong> study is ma<strong>in</strong>ly secondary; <strong>the</strong> major source is <strong>the</strong> GSE Fact Book (2010) and <strong>the</strong> Annual<br />

Reports <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> selected companies, specifically <strong>the</strong> f<strong>in</strong>ancial data on <strong>the</strong>ir Balance sheets and Income<br />

statements for <strong>the</strong> years 2005 to 2009, <strong>the</strong> study period when data availability posed no challenge. The<br />

results <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> researcher’s <strong>in</strong>terviews with GSE <strong>of</strong>ficials were used to supplement our secondary data.<br />

A random sample <strong>of</strong> 7 listed companies among a total <strong>of</strong> 35 currently listed on <strong>the</strong> GSE was decided on.<br />

The list applies to companies that have been very active dur<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> study period.<br />

Issues <strong>of</strong> share ownership structure, corporate governance structure, and those <strong>of</strong> corporate <strong>in</strong>vestment<br />

efficiency were considered us<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> GSE Fact Book and <strong>the</strong> Annual Reports <strong>of</strong> selected companies. The<br />

method to enable achievement <strong>of</strong> our objectives consisted <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> use <strong>of</strong> f<strong>in</strong>ancial performance analysis<br />

employ<strong>in</strong>g f<strong>in</strong>ancial ratios and o<strong>the</strong>r f<strong>in</strong>ancial measures over <strong>the</strong> specified period<br />

Collected data was processed <strong>in</strong>to three major groups <strong>of</strong> Share-Ownership Structure; Corporate<br />

Governance Structure; and Corporate Investment Efficiency (pr<strong>of</strong>itability).<br />

1. Share-ownership structure: accord<strong>in</strong>g to whe<strong>the</strong>r Concentration Ratio is High, or Low (Low<br />

imply<strong>in</strong>g widely dispersed ownership structure), us<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> Herf<strong>in</strong>dahl Index <strong>of</strong> Ownership<br />

Concentration (Sorensen, 2008)<br />

2. Whe<strong>the</strong>r Corporate Governance structure is good (that is satisfy<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> above list <strong>of</strong> good<br />

corporate governance practice) or weak (that is, <strong>the</strong> opposite be<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> case).<br />

3. Corporate Investment Efficiency (pr<strong>of</strong>itability), us<strong>in</strong>g f<strong>in</strong>ancial ratios <strong>of</strong> Return on<br />

Equity/Investment (ROE); and Earn<strong>in</strong>gs per Share (EPS). (Helfert, 2000; Breadley Stewart and<br />

Allen, 2008; Farooque et al, 2007; Aluchna, 2007).<br />

Tables 1, 2 and 3 provide relevant statistics on <strong>the</strong> three group<strong>in</strong>gs.<br />

Analysis and Discussions:<br />

Tables 1 and 2 provide statistics on share-ownership structure and corporate governance structure<br />

respectively <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> 7 firms. Table 1 <strong>in</strong>dicates that <strong>the</strong> companies have high owner concentration ratios <strong>of</strong><br />

above 0.6, constituted by about 4 firms, us<strong>in</strong>g Herf<strong>in</strong>dahl Index <strong>of</strong> owner concentration (Sorensen, 2006).<br />

Dispersed ownership appears to be rare among <strong>the</strong> listed firms. This fact necessitates keep<strong>in</strong>g a large<br />

number <strong>of</strong> Board <strong>of</strong> Directors to provide an effective governance structure. Majority <strong>of</strong> Board members<br />

must be <strong>of</strong> Non-Executive status, and must be <strong>in</strong>dependent <strong>of</strong> management and free from any constra<strong>in</strong>ts<br />

likely to materially <strong>in</strong>terfere with <strong>the</strong> exercise <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir <strong>in</strong>dependent judgment. Our <strong>in</strong>terview with GSE<br />

<strong>of</strong>ficials <strong>in</strong>dicated that <strong>the</strong>y <strong>in</strong>sist that 25% <strong>of</strong> Board must be Non-executive; no compromise on<br />

CEO/Chair duality role; and no decision on size <strong>of</strong> membership.<br />

Table 2 provides some <strong>in</strong>formation on <strong>the</strong> ratio <strong>of</strong> Non-Executive members to total Board members. The<br />

ratios for <strong>the</strong> companies appear high, except Mechanical Lloyd with very low ratio, probably imply<strong>in</strong>g<br />

weak corporate governance structure, and also Aryton Drug Manufactur<strong>in</strong>g Firm and Camelot Ltd that<br />

need to beef up <strong>the</strong>ir governance structure. In <strong>the</strong> case <strong>of</strong> Enterprise Insurance Ltd, <strong>the</strong> ratio is fairly high,<br />

but <strong>the</strong>n it appears two Board members come from <strong>the</strong> same <strong>in</strong>stitution, a situation likely to lead to<br />

opportunistic tendencies that could even compromise on some critical corporate objectives. Besides, only<br />

<strong>the</strong> Ghana Commercial Bank reta<strong>in</strong>s two Independent Non-Executive members, which appears to be an<br />

improvement over <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>rs. To this end, o<strong>the</strong>r companies need to learn from such best practices. GSE<br />

should cont<strong>in</strong>ue to ensure that <strong>the</strong>ir education and publicity campaigns are given greater boost.<br />

Never<strong>the</strong>less, we can discern that positive relationship exists among <strong>the</strong> share-ownership structure,<br />

corporate governance structure, and corporate pr<strong>of</strong>itability. Table 3 <strong>in</strong>dicates that ROEs and EPS for <strong>the</strong><br />

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