Corporate governance practices in emerging markets: The case of GCC countries

Abstract

This paper examines the corporate governance (CG) practices in emerging markets with special reference to the listed firms in the Gulf Cooperation Council's (GCC) oil rich countries. It develops an un-weighted Corporate Governance Index (CGI) model for non-financial firms using recent data. The usefulness of the model is demonstrated with a specific country example. The index identifies thirty internal governance attributes which are abridged in three categories of all the selected firms to form the best CG practices in the region. The results demonstrate that GCC companies adhere to 69% of the attributes addressed in the CGI. The results also show that the firms listed in the United Arab Emirates stock markets exhibit the best adherence to the CG attributes examined in the study followed by Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait, respectively. The current paper offers valuable recommendations to policy makers to gradually embed strong and specific governance practices. Special emphasis is placed to board effectiveness and structural and organizational frameworks in order to ensure a sustainable quality of CG practices in the region.