How firms determine the pay of their executive employees is a vital research area. In the Australian context, mining firms form a large portion of listed companies. These miners tend to have more volatile earnings, operate with less certainty and higher risk in relation to capital investment. We look at a sample of ASX listed miners and non-miners from 2005 to 2013. We note that miners pay their CEOs less (AUD 1 m vs AUD 1.5 m for non-miners) overall. However, we also note that miners tend to use enhanced contingent long-term remuneration arrangements to significantly boost the pay-performance relationship compared to non-miners particularly during the pre-GFC period. Curiously, non-miners tend to have more generous short-term contingent arrangements linking executive pay and performance. The GFC, as an event, has adversely impacted these arrangements, lessening the generosity of pay-performance among miners, while enhancing these arrangements among non-miners. Overall, the results of the study provide support for optimal contracting theory and do not generally support the managerial power approach for both mining and non-mining firms.

The present study examines the interrelationships between FDI inflows and corporate governance in a large number of countries for the year 2004. Building on the new paradigm shift of FDI attractiveness towards host country's existing corporate governance environment, accounting and disclosure standards, property rights, openness of markets to investments and legal and institutional infrastructure etc. as widely recognised by the World Bank and other organizations, this study provides new evidence of significant bidirectional positive relation between country-level corporate governance and foreign direct investment at international level. We find corporate governance to have significant positive impact on attracting FDI inflows. We also find significant positive impact of lagged FDI on corporate governance though contemporaneous FDI has no significant influence. However, we find no significant effect of adoption of international accounting standards and legal origin on improving corporate governance and FDI inflows in the recipient country. We find significant positive impact of disclosure on FDI inflows. We also find ownership diffusion to have significant positive effect on corporate governance while it has a negative influence on FDI inflows.

The discipline of entrepreneurship has attracted significant attention over the past 30 years in the academic environment (Yadav and Unni, 2016). The initial research exploring the concept of entrepreneurship focused mainly on male entrepreneurs, with the prevailing assumption that gender may not impact entrepreneurial activities. The role of gender in entrepreneurship has been recognized as important as early as 1970s, leading to the emergence of women's entrepreneurship as a sub-domain in entrepreneurship research (Bourne and Calas, 2013). However, academic research remained limited until the late 1990s, and women's entrepreneurship developed as a significant area of research only towards early 2000 (Jennings and Brush, 2013). Currently, many areas of women's entrepreneurship remain underexplored (Lewis, 2014), even though there are an estimated 128 million women starting new businesses and an estimated 98 million women running established businesses (GEM, 2015). The link between entrepreneurship and economic growth has only been well established at the turn of the century (Langowitz and Minniti, 2007). Development of entrepreneurship, and women's entrepreneurship in particular, is important for continued economic growth and sustainable development. However, the pursuits of entrepreneurial activities need to carefully consider market opportunities, situational contexts and the role played by institutions (Grief, 2000).

The present study analyses the relationship between ownership structure and capital structure of a sample of 465 Australian firms for the period 2004 to 2010. An examination of leverage levels show that long-term debt accounts for nearly three-fourths all debt or approximately 13 per cent of total capital for large Australian firms. Global financial crisis appears to have no significant impact on leverage levels of Australian firms. Managerial ownership in Australian firms is very small on an average with less than 1 per cent shareholding held by both independent and non-independent directors. Pooled OLS analysis shows evidence of a significant non-linear relationship between ownership structure and capital structure. Blockholders have a significant positive influence on capital structure but as their shareholding increases, the impact turns to be negative. Managerial ownership on the other hand has no influence on capital structure but has impact on short-term debt levels. This relationship between blockholder ownership and capital structure is spurious and does not persist when endogeneity and unobserved heterogeneity are taken into account. Panel data analysis shows no significant relationship between ownership structure and capital structure of Australian firms.

This study examines the interrelationships between foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows and country-level corporate governance in a large sample of countries for 2004. Building on the new paradigm shift of FDI attractiveness towards a host country's existing corporate governance environment, accounting/disclosure standards, property rights, openness of markets and legal/institutional infrastructure, this study provides new evidence of a significant positive bi-directional relationship between corporate governance and FDI. However, there is no significant effect of adoption of international accounting standards and legal origin on improving corporate governance and FDI inflows in the recipient country. But disclosure has significant positive impact on FDI inflows. While ownership diffusion has a significant positive effect on corporate governance, it shows a negative influence on FDI inflows. These evidences provide policy makers an insight to frame county-level strategy and implement appropriate measures in attracting FDI and improving quality of country-level corporate governance in an internationally competitive environment.

This thesis examines the causal relationships among bank development, stock market development, conventional insurance, Islamic insurance, and economic growth in Malaysia using annual data for the period from 1975 to 2012. These relationships are studied a using multivariate VAR framework to evaluate long-run relationships among bank development, stock market development, conventional insurance, Islamic insurance, real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, fixed capital formation (FCF), trade openness, and the consumer price index. The study also uses vector error correction model-based (VECM) causality tests to establish long- and short-run causality relationships among bank development, stock market development, conventional insurance, Islamic insurance, and economic growth. It uses four bank development indicators: the ratio of commercial bank assets divided by commercial bank plus central bank assets (BTOT), liquid liabilities (M3), domestic credit to the private sector (DCP), and bank deposit liabilities (LBDL). It further uses the total value traded ratio (VT), turnover ratio (TR), number of listed companies (LC), market capitalization (MC), and total capital raised in the primary market (IPOs) as indicators for stock market development. It also uses five variables representing conventional insurance, specifically gross premium income (life insurance), gross premium income (non-life insurance), life insurance penetration, non-life insurance penetration, and non-life insurance density, and three variables for Islamic insurance: assets of family takaful funds (AFTF), assets of general takaful funds (AGTF), and total contributions by participants in the family takaful (CPFT). The empirical results indicate that the direction of causality among bank development, stock market development, conventional and Islamic insurance, and economic growth in Malaysia is sensitive to the choice of proxy used for bank development, stock market development, conventional insurance, and Islamic insurance.

The present study analyses the capital structure choice of Malaysian firms for the period 1993 - 2003. Debt levels have increased substantially after the 1997 East Asian Financial Crisis. Analysis shows that tangibility has no significant influence on leverage in both pre-crisis and post-crisis periods. This finding contradicts the findings of earlier studies. Similarly profitability does not appear to have any influence on leverage during both pre-crisis and post-crisis periods. Size has significant negative influence on leverage in both pre and post crisis periods. One plausible reason could be that investors have more information about large companies and are willing to supply equity to these firms as suggested by information based theories of capital structure. Growth as expected has significant negative influence on leverage in both periods. This is consistent with information based theories of capital structure that suggest that growth firms face more uncertainty compared to stable mature firms and may therefore choose to have less leverage. Tax-based explanations of capital structure suggest that presence of non-debt tax shields obviates the need for leverage. However, analysis shows that NDTS has positive impact on leverage in both periods thus rendering tax-based explanations untenable in the Malaysian context. Liquidity has significant negative influence during the pre-crisis period while it has no significant influence during the post-crisis period. Volatility has significant influence on leverage though the degree of influence appears to be small in both periods. Stock price performance has negative influence on leverage in both periods indicating possible equity offerings rather than debt offerings as firms may be timing their equity issues. Thus there is support for information based explanations of capital structure.

This study examines the factors influencing decision to buyback shares in Australia. Analysis of a sample of non-financial firms included in the All Ordinaries Index for the period 2004 to 2010 show that size has significant positive influence on the decision to buyback shares. There is limited support for the view that firms buyback shares in order to reach their target optimal capital structure. The present study finds no evidence of undervaluation influencing buyback decisions of Australian firms.

The quality of risk oversight by a company's board of directors is of critical importance in preserving shareholder value and protecting stakeholder interests. The research for this thesis was aimed at constructing a Risk Governance Index (RGI) which sought to measure the quality of risk oversight by the board of directors in the parent companies of life insurance companies registered with the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA). The thesis contributed to research in the financial services sector. The RGI enables regulators and shareholders to monitor whether the board of directors is discharging its duties and responsibilities effectively to protect and enhance shareholder investment, as well as the interests of the depositors and policyholders of a regulated financial institution.

This study has three main objectives: (i) estimate earnings management of Thai listed firms during the period 2003 to 2010, (ii) investigate the relationship between corporate governance and earnings management, and (iii) examine the influence of earnings management and corporate governance on the cost of equity capital. The population of this study comprises all listed companies on the Stock Exchange of Thailand during the period 2003-2010, with the exception of financial and insurance groups, listed companies on the Market for Alternative Investments (MAI), listed companies under rehabilitation and companies under property fund. The final sample for this study consists of 3,120 firms-years.