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Corporate Governance, Business Group Affiliation, and Firm Performance : Descriptive Evidence from Pakistan

Author

Listed:
  • Waqar I. Ghani

    (LUMS)

  • Junaid Ashraf

Abstract

This study examines business groups and their impact on corporate governance in Pakistan. We use non-financial firms listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange of Pakistan for 1998-2002 periods in order to select group and non-group samples. Our analysis find that group firms have higher liquidity/short-term debt paying ability, and lower financial leverage than those of the non-group firms in each of the five years and when averaged over five-years. More importantly, we find that for the group firms, the five-year mean values of revenues and the five-year mean values of total assets grew faster than those of the non-group firms. Based on mean values of ROA, we find that group firms are more profitable than non-group firms in each year and over all five-years combined. In contrast, Tobins Q results (a market valuation measure) show that the mean values for each year and for all five-years combined are lower than those of the non-group firms. Our industry-level results are roughly consistent with those of the full samples. The divergence between ROA and Tobins Q suggests that external shareholders perceive firms affiliated with business groups to have relatively lower transparency and weaker corporate governance mechanisms than firms not affiliated with business groups. As a consequence, the market participants appear to discount the value of group firms even though these firms are more profitable than non-group firms. We interpret this evidence to indicate that investors view the business-group as a mechanism to expropriate minority shareholders. On the other hand, the comparative financial performance results suggest that business groups in Pakistan are efficient economic arrangements that substitute for missing or inefficient outside institutions and markets. We feel that our preliminary work substantially contributes to our understanding of business groups and their relationship to corporate governance and economic development in Pakistan.

Suggested Citation

  • Waqar I. Ghani & Junaid Ashraf, 2005. "Corporate Governance, Business Group Affiliation, and Firm Performance : Descriptive Evidence from Pakistan," Governance Working Papers 22255, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:eab:govern:22255
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Tarun Khanna & Jan W. Rivkin, 2001. "Estimating the performance effects of business groups in emerging markets," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 45-74, January.
    2. Khanna, Tarun, 2000. "Business groups and social welfare in emerging markets: Existing evidence and unanswered questions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(4-6), pages 748-761, May.
    3. Claessens, Stijn, 1997. "Corporate Governance and Equity Prices: Evidence from the Czech and Slovak Republics," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(4), pages 1641-1658, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Babur Wasim Arif & Tetsushi Sonobe, 2012. "Virtual Incubation in Industrial Clusters: A Case Study in Pakistan," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(3), pages 377-392, March.
    2. Javed, Attiya Y. & Iqbal, Robina, 2007. "Relationship between Corporate Governance Indicators and Firm Value: A Case Study of Karachi Stock Exchange," MPRA Paper 2225, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Attiya Y. Javed & Robina Iqbal, 2007. "The Relationship between Corporate Governance Indicators and Firm Value : A Case Study of Karachi Stock Exchange," Governance Working Papers 22198, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    4. Attiya Y. Javed & Robina Iqbal, 2007. "The Relationship between Corporate Governance Indicators and Firm Value: A Case Study of Karachi Stock Exchange," PIDE-Working Papers 2007:14, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics.
    5. Waqar BADSHAH & Shoaib IRSHAD & Usman HAKAM & Adnan Saeed KHAN, 2016. "Bank’S Supply Of Credit And Corporate Capital Structure In Pakistan," Romanian Economic Business Review, Romanian-American University, vol. 11(4.1), pages 17-24, december.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Business group; Corporate governance; Minority Shareholders; Expropriation; Agency Theory; market failures;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • M20 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Economics - - - General

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