Support Corporate Governance Research

Research on corporate governance, until recently, has been generated against experiences and events in the developed markets by using data relevant to these markets. The outcome of research as such has not always been appropriate or relevant as the basis for analysis of reform considerations for developing countries.

To support the corporate governance policy agenda in emerging markets and transition economies, the Forum has supported and endorsed a network of leading academics under the auspices of its Emerging Markets Corporate Governance Research Network to:

• Inform the Forum on the most recent literature on corporate governance and development,
• Identify priorities for future research in the Forum's areas of activity,
• Generate and publish discussion papers and research working papers, and
• Promote a research strategy that supports academic research capacity in developing countries on corporate governance.

The Network has evolved over the years since its’ inception in 2002 to include researchers from emerging, developing and transition countries. Currently, the Network is coordinated by Melsa Ararat, Director of Corporate Governance Forum of Turkey and professor at Sabanci University with the support of Burcin Yurtoglu, professor at Vienna University under the Chairmanship of Professor Stijn Claessens from University of Amsterdam.


History of the Research Network on Corporate Governance

One of the missions of GCGF is to sponsor research to ensure that CG reforms are underpinned by scientific analysis. Since the inception of GCGF, the amount of research on CG has increased substantially and the debate on what constitutes good CG has intensified all over the world, with some commonality observed and lessons incorporated. Over the same period, a number of CG research networks and centers have emerged, boosting local research and policy-making capacity. Also, substantial reforms have taken place in many (developing) countries; yet, the outcome of these reforms has not been yet fully captured by academic research.

Supported by GCGF and kicked off by the one-day workshop on the Future of Research on Corporate Governance in Developing and Emerging Markets held by the GCGF at the World Bank in April 2002 and attended by 50 participants, an informal research network has evolved over the years. Initially called the Global Corporate Governance Academic Network (GCGAN), the network was formally launched in February 2004 in Tokyo by Stijn Claessens, then professor at University of Amsterdam, and Florencio Lopez-de­Silanes, then Professor at the Yale School of Management. With moves of Stijn Claessens to the World Bank, Erik Berglöf, professor at the Stockholm School of Economics, became the new co-chair, and in summer of 2005, Florencio Lopez-de­Silanes was replaced by Luigi Zingales of University of Chicago. With the moves of Erik Berglöf to EBRD and Stijn Claessens to IMF in 2007, however, the network activities slowed down further due their other commitments.

To date, the Network has been largely supported by GCGF as it has financed the organization of one global and five regional meetings. In early 2007, Melsa Ararat, Director of Corporate Governance Forum of Turkey and professor at Sabanci University, was appointed by the GCGF as the coordinator of the network with the support of Burcin Yurtoglu, professor at Vienna University. Stijn Claessens continued to provide scientific oversight as the Chairman of the Network. This has led to a reinvigoration of the network.

Value of the Research Network in Corporate Governance
Structure of the Research Network
Research Network Activities

Conferences
The Network organizes biannual international academic conferences where the forthcoming issues in corporate governance are identified and broad lessons of corporate governance in developing countries are drawn. The conferences include policy makers and practitioners.

1. First International Conference on Corporate Governance in Emerging Markets was held in at Sabanci University (CGFT), Istanbul November 15-17, 2007.

For downloading papers please click here.
For the video recordings please click here.
For conference report please click here.

2. Second International Conference on Corporate Governance in Emerging Markets was held in Sao Paulo on July 2&3, 2009.
The conference aimed to facilitate dissemination of research on corporate governance in emerging markets, with the objective of supporting policy and practice development. The conference provided a forum to discuss the ongoing research on corporate governance in emerging markets and solicited ideas from both theory and policy perspectives as to how to further improve corporate governance research. The conference also created an opportunity to inquire how academic research findings relate to practice in emerging markets by having leading practitioners as discussants.

The conference particularly welcomed comparative research comprising clusters of developing countries sharing institutional or macroeconomic similarities. Clusters are comprised of countries that are geographically distant such as the BRIC or countries with similar corporate governance reform approaches. Topics of papers covered areas in the law, economics and finance fields. Both theoretical and empirical papers, as well as clinical studies, were accepted.

For more details please click here.


Workshops

Workshops are held in between the global conferences where a small number of senior, international researchers and practitioners interact with a small group of more junior researchers.

1. First workshop on Corporate Governance in Emerging Markets was held in Yale University, Millstein Center of Corporate Governance and Performance.

For more details and downloading papers please click here.
For the workshop report, please click here.

Research Publications (divided by country)
Research Network Reports

Some useful links on Corporate Governance Research include:

• European Corporate Governance Institute
• ROSC - the World Bank