The relationship of board duality by comparing directors with their Dissertation

The relationship of board duality by comparing directors with their firms performance - Dissertation Example To study the positive or negative impacts of duality of board structure on the performance of the firm. Project Aim: In recent years, transparency has become an important aspect of corporate governance that allows investors and shareholders to observe the performance of the company. In this way, investors and stakeholders are aware of the internal conditions and functioning of the company. Brown and Caylor (2004) suggest that the significant relationship between corporate governance and performance is due to the controlling role of the shareholders. They stated that shareholders could elect a board of directors of their choice, which would help them to monitor management performance and enable them to provide suitable suggestions to improve the company’s performance. This research will examine listed companies in Kuwait and it will test whether duality has a positive or negative impact in the performance of these companies. Kuwaiti companies have been selected because there ar e more than 200 companies listed in the Kuwaiti stock exchange (KSE) and 57 per cent of companies have this dual leadership function (Al-Sultan and Al-Shammari, 2010). Research Hypothesis: Various research hypotheses will be tested from before and after the recent credit crisis. These hypotheses include a correlation test of whether there is a significant relationship between the different variables involved in this research. Three hypotheses for this research are: Hypothesis 1: There is a positive relationship between duality and the performance of firms. Hypothesis 2: There is a negative relationship between duality and the performance of firms. Hypothesis 3:... According to the research findings in recent years, transparency has become an important aspect of corporate governance that allows investors and shareholders to observe the performance of the company. In this way, investors and stakeholders are aware of the internal conditions and functioning of the company. Brown and Caylor suggest that the significant relationship between corporate governance and performance is due to the controlling role of the shareholders. They stated that shareholders could elect a board of directors of their choice, which would help them to monitor management performance and enable them to provide suitable suggestions to improve the company’s performance. This research will examine listed companies in Kuwait and it will test whether duality has a positive or negative impact in the performance of these companies. Kuwaiti companies have been selected because there are more than 200 companies listed in the Kuwaiti stock exchange (KSE) and 57 per cent of c ompanies have this dual leadership function. Duality in the boards of Kuwaiti’s listed companies and the performance of these companies has become questionable because of the dual function in leadership. There are many reasons behind this research. However, the foremost purpose of conducting the research is that corporate governance is a relatively new subject in Kuwait and not many people are aware of its company laws and legislation. Another reason is that the issue of duality is not specified in the legislation of corporate governance.