Corporate governance, ownership structure and firm performance of Egyptian listed companies

Abstract

The study investigates the relationship of corporate governance mechanisms, ownership structure and the Egyptian firm performance. This study utilizes a sample of 50 firms using the accounting and market data available for the period 2004-2006. The sample firms are all listed in either the Cairo or Alexandria Stock. The cross-sectional regression analysis is employed to test the hypotheses of the study. The results indicate a positive significant relationship between firm performance and the percentage of outside directors in boards and the existence of institutional representatives in boards. Furthermore, a significant negative relationship exists between firm performance and board size, role duality and the existence of firm's website. The results also reveal a significant, positive relationship between firm performance measures and the percentage of women members in boards of directors in Egyptian firms. Our results support previous literature and show consistency with the agency theory.