Title: Corporate governance metrics for Asian companies: are they reliable indicators of corporate performance?

Authors: Daryl Koehn, Joe Ueng

Addresses: Center for Business Ethics, Cameron School of Business, University of St. Thomas, Houston, Texas 77006, USA. ' Department of Economics, Finance, and Decision Information Sciences, Cameron School of Business, University of St. Thomas, Houston, Texas 77006, USA

Abstract: As more investors have bought shares in Asian companies, global interest in these firms| corporate governance has soared. Firms like Institutional Shareholder Services have begun to rate Asian firms| corporate governance, assigning them ||Corporate Governance Quotients|| (CGQ). Some research suggests that companies with higher CGQs deliver better shareholder returns for investors. The first section of this paper examines whether this positive relation holds true in the Asian market and considers the implications of our findings for Asian managers. The second section raises some more general questions about the value and viability of corporate governance ratings and identifies some dangers associated with corporate governance rating systems.

Keywords: Asia; China; Singapore; Hong Kong; corporate governance quotients; shareholder returns; rating systems; company performance; metrics; shares; CGQ; investors; business ratings; business governance.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBGE.2010.035599

International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics, 2010 Vol.5 No.4, pp.241 - 260

Published online: 01 Oct 2010 *

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