Main Article Content
Abstract
The purpose of this article is to discuss the barriers to effective corporate governance principles in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in Zimbabwe in order to have an influence on policy debates. This study used a qualitative research approach, and a case study research design was followed, in order to attain the objective of the research. Semi-structured interviews were carried to get the views of the respondents on barriers to effective corporate governance principles in SOEs in Zimbabwe. Respondents chosen were members of the audit committees (ACs), permanent secretaries (PSs), chief executive officers (CEOs), senior managers (SMs), board of directors (BoDs) and chief audit executives (CAEs). Respondents were chosen due to their ability to act on the study’s findings and recommendations. Data was analysed using Atlas.ti version 8. The study revealed that there are cases of poor and mis-governance in SOEs in Zimbabwe. Egregious cases include non-adherence to corporate governance rules and laws, degenerating against the Public Finance Management Act, [Chapter 22:19] as well as paying ignore in the submission of the financial statements which are audited. The article therefore, recommends that for an emerging country like Zimbabwe to enjoy the advantages of effective corporate governance principles, reviewing the legislations which are currently there as well as strengthening the enforcement strategies of the regulatory institutions is of paramount importance. The findings are limited to a Zimbabwean case study alone. Be that as it may, great lessons can be drawn for other developing economies from the case study. Apart from classifying cases of poor or mal-governance in SOEs in Zimbabwe, the article gives recommendations for policy in-order to improve corporate governance in SOEs in Zimbabwe. There is a dearth of study on barriers to effective corporate governance principles in SOEs in Zimbabwe; therefore, there is a gap in the literature. Hence, the paper makes an original contribution to the literature. Finally, the paper advocates fruitful avenues for future research on the future of corporate governance.
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References
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References
Babbie, E. R. (2012). The Practice of Social Research (13th ed.). Wadsworth Publishing.
Besada, H., & Werner, K. (2020). The Environment and Corporate Governance in Zimbabwe. The Centre for International Governance Innovation.
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2013). Successful Qualitative Research a practical guide for beginners. Sage.
Chimbari, P. (2017). Public sector corporate governance in Zimbabwe: The Nexus between The Zimcode and state-owned enterprises. International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management, 5(7), 212–220.
Claessens, S., & Yurtoglu, B. B. (2013). Corporate governance in emerging markets: A survey. Emerging Markets Review, 15(1), 1–33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ememar.2012.03.002
Corrigan, T. (2014). Corporate governance in Africa’s state-owned enterprises: Perspectives on an evolving system. https://view.ckcest.cn/AllFiles/ZKBG/Pages/231/2bf6956a3754777254a8bdcce1f76d7cf1d6c36f.pdf
Cresswell, J. W. (2014). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, And Mixed Method Approaches. Fourth Edition. Thousand Oaks.
Estrin, S., & Pelletier, A. (2018). Privatization in developing countries: What are the lessons of recent experience? The World Bank Research Observer, 33(1), 65–102.
ethicalboardroom. (2015). Corporate Governance and SOEs. Ethical Boardroom. https://ethicalboardroom.com/corporate-governance-and-soes/
Farinha, J. (2003). Corporate Governance: a Review of theLiterature. Universidade do Porto.
Florio, M. (2014). Contemporary public enterprises: innovation, accountability, governance. Journal of Economic Policy Reform, 17(3), 201–208.
Frederick, W. R. (2011). Enhancing the Role of the Boards of Directors of State-Owned Enterprises (No. 2; OECD Corporate Governance Working Papers).
Goldkuhl, G. (2012). Pragmatism vs interpretivism in qualitative information systems research. European Journal of Information Systems, 21, pages135–146.
Gumede, W. (2018). Policy Brief 30: Positioning Africa’ S Soes to Deliver on the Developmental Mandate. Democracy Works Foundation. Democracy Work Foundation.
Hamdani, R., & Albar, A. R. (2016). Internal controls in fraud prevention effort: a case study. Jurnal Akuntansi dan Auditing Indonesia, 20(2), 127–135.
Hennink, M., Hutter, I., & Bailey, A. (2011). Qualitative Research Methods. Sage Publications.
IMF. (2018). Republic of Mozambique:2017 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for the Republic of Mozambique.
Kanyane, M., & Sausi, K. (2015). Reviewing state-owned entities’ governance landscape in South Africa. African Journal of Business Ethics, 9(1), 28–41.
Mail And Guardian. (2017, September 19). State-owned enterprises shouldn’t be used as pawns in South African politics. Mail&Guardian. https://mg.co.za/article/2017-09-19-state-owned-enterprises-shouldnt-be-used-as-pawns-in-south-african-politics/
Mashavave, M. (2017). A corporate governance perspective to state owned enterprises in Zimbabwe: A case study of air Zimbabwe. Management, 7(6), 209–222.
Mashingaidze, S. (2014). Corporate governance: Effectiveness of Zimbabwean hard law on blockholders’ protection. Corporate Ownership & Control, 11(4–6), 549–557.
Matsiliza, N. S. (2017). Corporate governance of the state-owned enterprises in an emerging country: Risk management and related issues. Risk Governance and Control Financial Markets & Institutions, 7(3), 35–43.
Maune, A. (2015). Corporate governance in Zimbabwe: An overview of its current state. Asian Economic and Financial Review, 5(1), 167–178.
Mirela-Oana, P., & Melinda-Timea, F. (2015). Literature review on corporate governance - firm performance relationship. Annals of Faculty of Economics, 1(1), 98–854.
Mugova, S., & Sachs, P. R. (2016). Corporate governance, structure and accountability as affected by national government infrastructure in developing countries. Corporate Ownership & Control, 13(4), 224–231.
Neuendorf, K. A. (2019). Content analysis and thematic analysis. In P.Brough (Ed.), Research methods for applied psychologists: Design,analysis and reporting (pp. 211-223). New York: Routledge.
Obert, S., Suppiah, P. S. D. K., Tendai, M. J., Desderio, C. M., & Martin, D. (2014). Corporate board failure in Zimbabwe: Have non – executive directors gone to sleep? IOSR Journal of Business and Management, 16(7), 78–86.
OECD. (2018). State-Owned Enterprises and Corruption: What Are the Risks and What Can Be Done?
PWC. (2015). 2015 State of the Internal Audit Profession Study Finding True North in a period of rapid transformation.
Rajagopalan, N., & Zhang, Y. (2008). Corporate governance reforms in China and India: Challenges and opportunities. Business Horizons, 51(1), 55–64.
Rujitha. (2012). Challenges to corporate governance : issues and concerns. International Journal of Marketing, Financial Services & Management Research, 1(12), 96–101.
Samaduzzaman, M., Zaman, F., & Quazi, Z. (2015). Literature review on corporate governance structure and performance in non-financial Bangladesh firms. Asian Journal of Finance & Accounting, 7(1), 69–104.
SERA. (2014). Assessment of Corporate Governance Practices by State Enterprises & Parastatals In Zimbabwe.
Sherbourne, R. (2013). Guide to the Namibian Economy 2013/2014.
Subramaniam, N., & Ratnatunga, J. (2003). Corporate governance : some key challenges and opportunities for accounting researchers. Journal of Applied Management Accounting Research, 1(2), 1–8.
Zalewska, A. (2014). Challenges of corporate governance: Twenty years after Cadbury, ten years after Sarbanes–Oxley. Journal of Empirical Finance, 27, 1–9.