Chris Mallin

Corporate Social Responsibility and Financial Performance in Islamic Banks

This paper examines the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and financial performance in Islamic banks. Using a comprehensive CSR index covering ten dimensions, we analyse the CSR disclosures in a sample of 90 Islamic banks across 13 countries. The CSR disclosure index shows that Islamic banks engage across the range of social activities, both as individual banks and as countries. However Islamic banks seem to show more commitment to the vision and mission, the board and top management, and the financial product/services dimensions, whilst least attention is paid to the environment dimension. Islamic banks also show a considerable awareness of the mandatory disclosure recommendations of the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) however, they pay less attention to the voluntary CSR disclosure. Moreover, we find a pronounced emphasis in Islamic banks strategy towards more universal disclosures, suggesting the legitimacy of these banks is reinforced through disclosure to the wider stakeholder community . The empirical analysis highlights a positive association between CSR disclosure and financial performance. We also find a positive and highly significant association between the Shari’ah supervisory board (SSB) size and CSR disclosure index. Finally, the results of the three-stage least squares estimation show that the causality between the two endogenous variables runs from financial performance to CSR disclosure. Thus CSR disclosure is determined by financial performance.

Corporate Governance in Bangladesh: A Comparison with Other Emerging Market Countries

Corporate governance has developed a higher profile in recent years in many emerging markets. Bangladesh as an emerging country provides an interesting case study. Whilst its economy has achieved an impressive growth rate, weak governance has caused an increasing number of companies to fail. Governance codes have been developed in many other emerging countries including Bangladesh and a comparative analysis may ascertain if their provisions are internationally compatible. This chapter discusses the theoretical framework and outlines the various governance codes and guidelines in Bangladesh and contrasts them with the OECD Principles of Corporate Governance as well as those codes in India and Pakistan. Using case studies and examples, we illustrate the key corporate governance characteristics typically found in companies in these countries. We highlight the common governance features and discuss their differences. Our chapter outlines a number of the practical and policy implications for corporate governance in the emerging markets of Bangladesh, Pakistan and India.

Corporate Governance of Non-Listed Companies

tegic management and social action is, sometimes, missing. One crucial question remains regarding the measurement and evaluation process of social projects’ impact (Chapter 12). Evaluating the effectiveness of social initiatives is a very tough task, and the special effort made by the authors is laudable, although the issue is far from being resolved. On the point, in the last chapter, the book provides several suggestions for further explorations, chiefly related to the tradeoff between CSR legislation and CSR accountability needs. This particularly interesting debate concludes, again, underlying a general concept already expressed in the introduction: the difficulties in defining a complete and measurable firms’ social impact and outcomes: without it we can focus on CSR disclosure and transparency, not yet accountability. This book is therefore a useful guide both for managers and researchers, and the authors provide us with a clear list of target readers: firm strategists, business unit managers and strategic management professors. Their role in making the relevance of social strategy clear is undeniable. We would like to add students and regulators to that list, in order to perfectly cover the range of people who can affect or be affected by social issues or social strategies.