Panel Paper:
The Effects of Corporate Governance on the Performance of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs)
Monday, July 29, 2019
40.012 - Level 0 (Universitat Pompeu Fabra)
*Names in bold indicate Presenter
State-owned Enterprises(SOEs) play an important role in the economic growth of many countries. In addition to their economic contributions, SOEs perform an integral role in the provision and delivery of critical public services to citizens such as health, education, water, and energy. However, the underperformance of some SOEs has led to significant challenges in overall national growth and competitiveness as well as posed a fiscal risk to the government. Consequently, improving SOE performance remains an important issue for policy makers and development practitioners alike. While in the past, country’s SOE reforms often primarily focused on privatization and restructuring, more recently, strengthening corporate governance has been gaining international momentum to improving SOE performance. Despite the growing interest in SOE corporate governance, there are only a few empirical studies that have looked into the relationship between corporate governance and SOE performance. This study aims to contribute to the existing literature on the topic by exploring two key questions: a) Does good corporate governance have an effect on SOE performance? and b) What are the specific aspects of corporate governance that have a significant relationship with SOE performance? The research will primarily use data from SOEs in South Korea. The findings of this proposed study are expected to provide the following intellectual merits: First, it will support SOE reform strategies and could be useful to practitioners in designing policies. Second, the results of the study will expand the currently limited empirical evidence base on the linkages between SOE performance and corporate governance.
