Women on Boards of Directors

This research aims to measure the current gender representation in membership of boards of directors,and to study the factors affecting the presence of women on boards.The results of the study will support the decision makers and policy makers at all levels by providing knowledge that contributes to bridging the current gap in participation of women boards.The methodology used in this research is the descriptive analytical approach,which relies on quantitative methods in the process of collecting and analyzing data.This study represents the boards of directors in the three sectors(public,private,and non-profit)in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,The study sample contained 350 targets,where a random sample of 150 people in the public sector,100 people in the private sector,and 100 people in the non-profit sector were selected.The research result found that the majority of the responses believe that the lack of experience and training,and social factors,are the most impact areas of explaining the reasons for the existence of a gap in women’s membership in boards of directors in the three sectors.And the most important reasons for the existence of a gender gap in board membership are:there is no statutory minimum percentage for women’s representation on boards of directors,and scarcity of female competencies in general,and the lack of women occupying leadership positions.

The Effect of the Board of Directors and Audit Quality on Disclosure of Internal Control Practices: Evidence from European Companies

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of the board of directors,namely board size,board independence,and CEO duality,as well as audit quality on the disclosure of internal control information.The sample consists of 164 European companies listed in the STOXX Europe 600.Based on positive agency theory,the authors posit that board of directors and audit quality influence corporate internal control disclosure practice.The content analysis and the design of the evaluation criterion were used to calculate the disclosure index of internal control.Thus,multiple regression analysis is utilized to analyze the results of this paper.The average internal control information disclosure index was 0.285,indicating that most of the companies in our sample do not disclose enough information about the internal control.This low level of forward-looking information disclosure makes it very difficult for corporate stakeholders to determine the future performance of the company.Multivariate results indicate that internal control disclosure is positively and significantly associated with board independence,CEO duality,and audit quality.This study contributes to the literature on the various governance characteristics and disclosure by showing that the disclosure of internal control information in European countries is positively and significantly associated with board independence,separation of duties,and audit quality.Our study was based on a sample of European companies including countries regulating IC disclosure as well as unregulated settings.As noted by Bedard and Graham(2014),regulatory differences in countries can contribute insights on the costs and benefits of disclosure.Findings also have policy implications for investors,managers,and regulators.

Board Effectiveness in Pharmaceutical Industry： The Case of TAPIC Pharmaceutical Group

Pharmaceutical industry plays a strategic role in economy of Iran. Corporate governance, in pharmaceutical companies as the very core of an organization, and the driving force of corporate leadership, plays a significant role in business success and overall productivity of the firms. As yet, the characteristics, factors causing success and failure of core governance in Iranian pharmaceutical industry have remained unsearched. Furthermore, the applicability of western theories and models to the traditional societies such as Iran are largely unknown. This study is an attempt to explore the pattern of board effectiveness and firm performance in Iranian pharmaceutical industry and suggesting an alternative good governance model suitable to apply to less developed countries （LDC） pharmaceutical industry, with emphasis on Iranian context. After An intensive literature review the model suggested by Ingley and Van der Walt （2001） was found to be more comprehensive, practical and suitable for this study. However, after empirical evaluation further development to the model to fit the pharmaceutical industry and the context of LDCs, especially Iran, is suggested. Empirically the paper stands upon a rich database consisting of Tamin Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Investment Company （TAPIC） and its 11 subsidiary companies which are treated as 11 mini-cases. Data were collected by document analysis, questionnaire and interviews. Since two of the authors have many years experience as managers in the same industrial group, we got access to rich information that normally are not accessible to researchers in less developed countries. The results suggest some improvements to the earlier models and show that the pattern of board effectiveness in Iranian pharmaceutical industry can be influenced by： （1） Internal factors including： （a） board members, the personality and background, （b） board composition, which is influenced by selection criteria, Tribalism, interpersonal relationship and belonging to the same ideological group, （c） board interactions, and （d） power distribution in the board, which is influenced by parenting power in holding companies. All internal factors are directly or indirectly affected by political issues as well as socio-cultural forces. （2） External factors including： （a） industrial complexity and the nature of industry, （b） industrial ethos, （c） legislation, and political forces, （d） economy, which the last two factors are influenced by international environment as well.

Board of Directors, Independent Directors and Audit Fees： Based on the Empirical Data of the GEM of China

As one of the alternative variables of audit quality, audit fees have been researched widely in the Mainboard of China stock market, but empirical research based on the GEM （Growth Enterprise Market） of China is very few. From the perspective of GEM of China, this article observes and studies the impact of corporate governance structure represented by board of directors and independent directors on audit fees. This article selects the data of 348 listed companies in the GEM of China in 2012, proves that there is a positive correlation between the number of meetings, independent directors＇ salaries and audit fees through the use of multiple linear regression model, and accordingly proposed suggestions that improve the corporate governance structure of the GEM of China.

An Empirical Research on the Relationship between Board of Directors Governance and Corporate Performance of Chinese Public Companies

Board of directors is an important component part of corporate governance. As a governance mechanism, we empirically study relationship among the scale of the board of directors, the structure of the board of directors and the duality leadership structure with corporate performance in Chinese public companies. The result shows that the smaller scale of the board of the directors is, the better performance is. With the ownership structure changing better, the structure of the board of directors will change better and promote the performance. The duality leadership structure doesn＇t affect the corporate performance. The fundamental method for the governance effectiveness of the board is to set up the reasonable ownership structure and the marketing mechanism for occurrences in human .

A Study of the Role of the Board of Directors in Corporate Governance Based on UK Listed Companies

Companies are directed and controlled by corporate governance.It acts on the company internally and externally.The board of directors is responsible for the governance of the company;that is to say,the board of directors is the brain of the company,while corporate governance is the blood distributed throughout the company,which not only supplies blood to the whole,but also reflects the situation.Therefore,with regard to the role of the board of directors in corporate governance,this paper objectively analyzes the importance of the board of directors in corporate governance from theory to practice and from the internal composition of the board of directors to the impact of the board’s actions on the enterprise as a whole based on United Kingdom(UK)listed companies.

Modeling of Micropores Drilling Force for Printed Circuit Board Micro-holes Based on Energy Method

The quality of printed circuit board(PCB)micro-hole processing directly determines the stability of the inner and outer circuit connections.Micro-hole drilling technology is a typical method for PCB micro-hole processing.The problem of optimal control of its drilling force is one of the main factors affecting the quality of micro-hole machining.To address this problem,the thrust forces and torques in PCB drilling were first modeled and analyzed,and the corresponding prediction models were established.The drilling force analysis was carried out through the micro-hole drilling experiment,the specific cutting energy under different feed rates was calculated,the influence of the size effect was clarified,and the accuracy of the prediction model was verified.The result shows that during the drilling of glass fiber cloth,changes in the material removal mechanism are induced as the feed per revolution is varied.When the feed per revolution is less than the tool edge radius,the glass fiber is not cut by the main cutting edge,but is crushed and broken.When the feed per revolution is greater than the radius of the tool edge,the glass fiber is cut by the main cutting edge.At the same time,the established analytical model can accurately reflect the influence of the size effect on the drilling torque in PCB micro-hole drilling,and the error is within 10%.This method has certain practical application value in controlling PCB micro hole processing quality.

Numerical Analysis of Printed Circuit Board with Thermal Vias: Heat Transfer Characteristics under Nonisothermal Boundary Conditions

A thermal via has been used to enhance the heat transfer through the printed circuit board (PCB). Because the thermal conductivity of a dielectric material is very low, the array of metal vias is placed to make thermal paths in the PCB. This paper describes the numerical analysis of the PCB having metal vias and focuses on the heat transfer characteristics under the nonisothermal boundary conditions. The mathematical model of the PCB has the metal vias between two metal sheets. Under 2nd and 3rd kinds of boundary conditions, the temperature distribution is obtained numerically by changing the design parameters. The discussion is also made on the effective thermal conductivity of the PCB. In industry, the use of effective thermal conductivity is convenient for thermal engineers because it simplifies the calculation process, that is, the composite board can be modeled as a homogeneous medium. From the numerical results, it is confirmed that the placement of metal sheets and the population of metal vias are important factors to dominate the heat transfer characteristics of the PCB. It is also shown that although the nonisothermal boundary conditions are applied at the boundary surface, the temperature difference between the heated and the cooled section is almost uniform when the metal vias are populated densely with the metal sheets. In this case, the effective thermal conductivity of the PCB is found to be the same irrespective of the boundary conditions, that is, whether the isothermal or the nonisothermal boundary conditions are applied.

Effects of Pilot Programs for China's Central SOE Board of Directors

Since June 2004, the State-Owned Assets Supervision & Administration Commission(SASAC) has launched pilot programs for a board of directors(BoD) for central SOEs to establish and improve their governance structure and standardize their exercise of shareholder rights over state-owned listed companies. Based on this quasinatural experiment, this paper examines the BoD's effects on the agency cost of state-owned listed companies and their economic consequences. Using data of central SOE-controlled companies listed at Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges during 2002-2015, this paper finds that the pilot programs significantly reduced the two types of agency costs for the companies, and such effects primarily existed for listed companies with smaller central SOE shareholding ratios. Further test uncovers that, compared with central SOEs that did not carry out the pilot programs, those that did reported higher economic value-added and stock returns. Our conclusions offer a new interpretation of the BoD's governance effects from a controlling shareholder's perspective, and provide empirical evidence for the positive effects of the pilot programs for central SOE boards of directors. These findings have important policy implications for deepening SOE governance reforms.

Impact of Multiple Directorships on Performance for Companies Listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange （JSE）

The study investigates the plausible link between multiple directorships and company performance for Johannesburg Stock Exchange （JSE） listed companies in South Africa. This study also interrogates whether companies with busy boards perform better or worse than non over-boarded companies. The incidence of multiple directorship on JSE is low, therefore the hypothesis is rejected at 5%. Over-boarded company directors attend significantly less board meetings. The Pearson correlation between connectedness and log-transformed financial ratios is not significant between all the six financial ratios. The study finds no difference in performance between over-boarded and non over-boarded companies, and no association between multiple directorships and company performance.

Diversity and Board Effectiveness： A Case of India

A number of research studies have dealt with the relationship between diversity and effectiveness of corporate boards. The present paper makes an attempt to provide an international perspective on diversity and effectiveness of corporate boards and examines such relationship in detail in the case of India. The paper presents the theory relating to diversity and board effectiveness with particular reference to women on boards. The position of diversity as related to the boards of National Stock Exchange （NSE） listed 511 companies and the 245 state-owned enterprises （SOEs） by the Government of India （GoI） is reflected in the paper. It then examines gender diversity specifically in the case of India and Singapore. Drawing from the evidence of diversity in the case of global companies, it offers the rationale for making boards global in composition and character. The paper highlights an interestiiag issue： whether the boards should have younger or veteran members？ This follows a discussion on diversity of boards in terms of skills, age, and personalities. Finally, the paper makes suggestions for balance boards to enhance their effectiveness and brings out lessons for the corporate organizations to promote diversity of their boards.

Effectiveness of Supervisory Boards in Coordination With Audit Committees in China

China＇s supervisory mechanism is peculiar in that it integrated the supervisory board （SB） of the German corporate governance （CG） model in 1993, and has simultaneously adopted the audit committee （AC） of the Anglo-American model since 2002. This paper aims to reveal the effectiveness of SBs in coordination with ACs in China. The regulations for Anglo-American and Chinese systems are compared and further evidence is provided through interviewing two governors of all listed companies in the SSE and of 79 investment corporations in Hangzhou. Both statements indicate that China still faces difficulties and problems in meeting the two indexes of independence and expertise of supervision to give effective supervisory functions. Both opinions differed in terms of the co-ordination of SBs and ACs in the future. The evidence presented forms a basis for proposals of how key characteristics of effectiveness and co-ordination can be improved to make supervisory functions in China more effective.

The Empirical Study of Board Structure and Firm Performance-Innovative Small Enterprises in China

This study took small enterprises listed from 2010 to 2015 as the empirical object.The board size,CEO duality,and ratio of independent directors were independent variables.The return on total assets,return on shareholders’equity and earnings per share were taken as the dependent variables,and three hypotheses were tested with SPSS.It is found that the board size was positively correlated with firm performance,but was not significant.There was no significant correlation between the ratio of independent directors and CEO duality on firm performance.This study suggests that optimizing the leadership structure of the board of directors can help improve the firm performance of enterprises.

Analysis of Boards of Directors of Listed Companies --Empirical Evidence from China Stock Market

Since stock markets came forth in China only about 15 years ago, there are many different characteristics of Chinese listed companies compared with those of western. According to the regulation on Chinese security markets, an effective internal governance system is composed of systems of general meeting of shareholders, board of directors, board of supervisors and managers. The general meeting of shareholders, as the highest agency of power, makes decisions on important affairs of the company and one of its most important rights is to select qualified members for the board of directors. Board of directors exercises the resolution made by general meeting of shareholders and fulfil the responsibilities authorized by general meeting of shareholder during adjournment. Among the system arrangements above-mentioned, board of directors is the most important. However, the efficiency of internal governing system of the whole company depends on board of directors. Combined with ownership structure analysis, this paper analyses the status quo of boards of directors in China and demonstrates every attribute of Chinese listed companies＇ board of directors.

New conception in continuum theory of constitutive equation for anisotropic crystalline polymer liquids

A new continuum theory of the constitutive equation of co-rotational derivative type is developed for anisotropic viscoelastic fluid—liquid crystalline (LC) polymers. A new concept of simple anisotropic fluid is introduced. On the basis of principles of anisotropic simple fluid, stress behaviour is described by velocity gradient tensor and spin tensor instead of the velocity gradient tensor in the classic Leslie—Ericksen continuum theory. Analyzing rheological nature of the fluid and using tensor analysis a general form of the constitutive equ- ation of co-rotational type is established for the fluid. A special term of high order in the equation is introduced by author to describe the sp- ecial change of the normal stress differences which is considered as a result of director tumbling by Larson et al. Analyzing the experimental results by Larson et al., a principle of Non- oscillatory normal stress is introduced which leads to simplification of the problem with relaxation times. The special behaviour of non- symmetry of the shear stress is predicted by using the present model for LC polymer liquids. Two shear stresses in shear flow of LC polymer liquids may lead to vortex and rotation flow, i.e. director tumbling in the flow. The first and second normal stress differences are calculated by the model special behaviour of which is in agree- ment with experiments. In the research, the com- putational symbolic manipulation such as computer software Maple is used. For the anisotropic viscoelastic fluid the constitutive equation theory is of important fundamental significance.

Energy-Saving Effect of Discolored Decorative Boards in Flexible Interior Space

Green,energy conservation and environmental protection have increasingly become the theme of the sustained and healthy development of cities against the background of new urbanization,which indicates that the problem of building energy consumption has received growing attention.This paper explores the impact of energy-saving decorations in flexible interior space on energy-saving effect of buildings so as to broaden the horizon of energy conservation in building,thereby alleviating the problem of energy shortage in China.

Analysis of passenger boarding time difference between adults and seniors based on smart card data

As an essential component of bus dwelling time, passenger boarding time has a significant impact on bus running reliability and service quality. In order to understand the passengers’ boarding process and mitigate passenger boarding time, a regression analysis framework is proposed to capture the difference and influential factors of boarding time for adult and elderly passengers based on smart card data from Changzhou. Boarding gap, the time difference between two consecutive smart card tapping records, is calculated to approximate passenger boarding time. Analysis of variance is applied to identify whether the difference in boarding time between adults and seniors is statistically significant. The multivariate regression modeling approach is implemented to analyze the influences of passenger types, marginal effects of each additional boarding passenger and bus floor types on the total boarding time at each stop. Results show that a constant difference exists in boarding time between adults and seniors even without considering the specific bus characteristics. The average passenger boarding time decreases when the number of passenger increases. The existence of two entrance steps delays the boarding process, especially for elderly passengers.

The effects of corporate governance compliance on market valuation in Malaysia

This study investigates the effects of corporate governance compliance on market valuation in Malaysia using a sample of 164 companies listed on the Main Board in Bursa Malaysia from 5 different industries （consumer, trading ＆ services, industrial, constructions and properties） within 2001 to 2005. Throughout, this study will use correlation and regression analysis in the SPSS software to determine the effects of corporate governance practices on Market Valuation. In analyzing firms＇ market valuation, we will use the Tobin＇s Q formula and for the corporate governance compliance, we will look at 4 criteria to compare with market valuation, which are （1） Board of Director＇s composition, （2） Board of Director＇s remuneration （salaries）, （3） Board of Director＇s training and development, （4） Board of Director＇s meeting. In order to determine the effects between the corporate governance compliance and market valuation, we will use regression analysis. Based on the correlation analysis, the first null hypothesis must be rejected and the alternative hypothesis is accepted, in which dependent variable and independent variables are significantly correlated with BOD remuneration and BOD training availability. Overall, there is a significant relationship between Tobin＇s Q and independent variables （BOD remuneration and BOD training）. This study also recommends that for the company who did not comply with the code, they should follow the best practice because it will be a pivotal weapon in facing with the fierce competition in era globalization.