Udo Braendle

The rise of MNCs, the expansion of the EU and several M&As have exposed German boards to a variety of cultures. But does diversity in the boardrooms improve performance? Based on an empirical study on German publicly listed companies, this unique research into cultural diversity answers the question if the level of cultural variety and cultural distance on boards of directors have an influence on firm performance in Germany. The results, which show a negative, linear influence of both cultural variety and cultural distance on operating performance measures, show empirical support for the importance of contextual factors in the relationship between diversity and performance. The authors ask for careful consideration before implementing regulations on board diversity.

Weak corporate governance in financial institutions has been a contributing factor of the financial crisis. The topic has, therefore, become the key priorities of banking supervision, because one of the takeaways was that. The article gives an overview about the newly established European Banking Union and about its structure focusing on the first pillar, the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM). In a second step, the focus is laid on the recent regulatory changes regarding corporate governance, the related supervisory practice and implications for European banks. Overall, the conducted changes in the regulatory framework, especially regarding corporate governance, seem to meet the objective of ensuring safety and soundness of the European banking system. Room for improvement is found regarding proportionality and transparency of the supervisory practices as well as its influence on banks’ profitability.

This article analyzes the correlation between compliance to the Austrian Code of Corporate Governance and financial success of Austrian stock listed companies. It uses a sample of 52 Austrian companies that are listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange and corporate data collected from company publications such as annual reports, financial reports, corporate governance reports and company websites. Three accounting measures – return on assets, return on equity and net profit margin – were chosen in order to proxy the financial performance of a company. The period under review ranges from 2008 to 2016, whereas particular attention is given to the years 2010 to 2016. A corporate governance compliance score has been established on the comply or explain basis and recommendation rules of the Austrian Code of Corporate Governance in order to measure a company’s ability of implementing ‘good’ corporate governance practices. In line with research for other countries, this study finds no statistical evidence that a correlation exists between high compliance to the Austrian Code of Corporate Governance and financial success of companies listed on the Austrian Stock Exchange. The paper highlights the uniqueness of the Austrian Corporate Governance system when compared to other systems and gives arguments why companies comply with corporate governance recommendations.