CMMU’s Latest Publication on Corporate Governance

The paper “Do Firms Decouple Corporate Governance Policy and Practice?” by CMMU Faculty member Asst. Prof. Dr. Roy Kouwenberg, CMMU Ph.D. Candidate Visit Phunnarungsi and Dr. Nasha Ananchotikul (Bank of Thailand) has been published in the journal European Financial Management, 2010, vol. 16(5), 712-737. European Financial Management is indexed in the ISI Social Science Citation Index (impact factor 0.892) and Scopus.

The research tests whether Thai listed firms with higher levels of good governance policy adoption are less likely to violate listing rules and laws designed to protect shareholders. The results suggest that firms on average implement, substantively as opposed to symbolically, recommended governance policies, as violations occur less frequently among firms with higher governance policy adoption scores. However, the research also finds evidence of symbolic governance among a small group of ‘talk-only’ firms that issue statements about governance while lagging in the adoption of policies related to shareholder rights and the board of directors.

The research shows that investors should not just take for granted statements about good governance and ethics by firms, but verify whether these policies are backed up actions, such as higher levels of Board independence and improved shareholder rights.

Publication of this report confirms CMMU's status as a leading business school in Asia.