Adaptation and convergence in corporate governance to international norms in Pakistan

Khan, Imtiaz Ahmed (2014) Adaptation and convergence in corporate governance to international norms in Pakistan. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

This thesis discusses the adaptation and convergence in corporate governance to
international norms in Pakistan. Pakistan is an underdeveloped but an emerging market
with inefficient legal, regulatory, judicial, institutional and governance norms. In recent
times there have been some reforms in the corporate sector of Pakistan but lack of
infrastructure and a dearth of research were barriers to reform generally. Therefore, this
thesis seeks to identify corporate governance issues in Pakistan, and discusses analytically
the possibility and effectiveness of convergence in corporate governance to international
norms in Pakistan.
To this end, it focuses on three aspects of convergence in corporate governance in
Pakistan. First, it discusses the prospects and application of convergence in corporate
governance in Pakistan. Second, it analyses critically, from a comparative perspective,
three core corporate governance issues in Pakistan. The corporate sector in Pakistan is
highly concentrated with an underdeveloped capital market and inefficient enforcement
mechanisms. The conflict between shareholders and management, and shareholders inter
se are major issues of corporate governance in Pakistan. The former conflict is addressed
by reducing agency cost and the latter by ensuring minority protection. These conflicts are
analysed comprehensively through comparative studies. Furthermore, the market and
judiciary in Pakistan have failed to provide investors with protection. This thesis discusses
the reform process in the market and judiciary in order to improve enforcement
mechanisms. In addition, it discusses the possibility of convergence and effectiveness of
adaptation in these issues. Third, as Pakistan is an ideological country whose constitution
prescribes Islam as the state religion which, in turn, prescribes Islamic injunctions as basic
norms, convergence to any foreign corporate governance feature will have to pass the
litmus test of Islamic norms. Therefore, the thesis also identifies the possibility of filtration
of foreign governance features through Islamic norms.
The thesis concludes that the corporate sector in Pakistan is underdeveloped with weak
investor rights and enforcement mechanisms. There is, therefore, a need to enhance
investor protection in order to improve corporate governance which, in turn, will improve
the economy of the country. In addition, the conclusion is reached that in convergence to
Western corporate governance features in Pakistan, Islamic norms may act as a litmus test
which may not be as problematic as it appears at first sight.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Keywords: Corporate governance,convergence, Pakistan, agency problems, minority shareholders' rights, investor protection, enforcement, fiduciary duties, derivative actions, unfair prejudice remedy, judiciary, stock market, Islamic law, Islamic finance, Shariah compliant products, reforms.
• Subjects: H Social Sciences > HG Finance; K Law > K Law (General)
• Colleges/Schools: College of Social Sciences > School of Law
• Supervisor's Name: MacNeil, Professor Iain
• Date of Award: 2014
• Depositing User: Mr Imtiaz Ahmed Khan
• Unique ID: glathesis:2014-5614
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 13 Oct 2014 08:25
• Last Modified: 03 Aug 2022 08:29
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.5614
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/5614