The corporate governance lifecycle in emerging markets – the case of the Republic of Korea

Abstract

Purpose: This paper aims to examine the impact of the corporate lifecycle on the corporate governance practices of firms in the Republic of Korea. Design/methodology/approach: The authors use five corporate lifecycle measures and corporate governance scores from Black et al. (2012) to estimate governance-prediction models inclusive of corporate lifecycles measures for a sample of 497 Republic of Korea firms over the 1998–2004 period. Findings: The authors find little evidence which points to a corporate governance lifecycle for firms in the Republic of Korea. The findings suggest that factors other than firm lifecycle best explain the corporate governance practices of firms in Korea. Originality/value: Using a battery of lifecycle measures and corporate governance indexes and subindexes, the authors believe this paper represents the most rigorous study yet to study the corporate governance lifecycle in an emerging market economy, namely, the Republic of Korea.