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This report provides a brief review of recent trends and key policies in strengthening national agricultural research systems. Chapters provide a brief overview of the recent evolution of national research systems and a synthesis of policy issues and good practices for developing these systems including the involvement of universities and the private sector. They also focus on key policy and institutional reforms for strengthening public research institutions including funding, research management, and client orientation. Finally they discuss implications for the World Bank in its ongoing efforts to strengthen national research systems.
Corporate governance deals with the ways in which the rights of outside suppliers of equity finance to corporations are protected and receive a fair return. Good practices reduce the risk of expropriation of outsiders by insiders and thus the cost of capital for issuers. Capaul and Fremond review the experience of the preparation of 15 corporate governance country assessments across five continents. The assessments have been prepared under the umbrella of the joint World Bank/IMF initiative of the "Reports on the Observance of Standards and Codes" (ROSCs). The assessments focus on the rights of shareholders, the equitable treatment of shareholders, the role of stakeholders, disclosure and tr...
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Banking the Poor explores level and determinants of financial access in 54 countries, mostly in Africa. It collects information from two sources: central banks and leading commercial banks in each surveyed country. It explores associations between countries' banking policies and practices and their levels of financial access, measured in terms of the numbers of bank account per thousand adults. It builds on the previous work measuring financial access through information from regulators, from banks, and also from users' perspectives in household surveys.
Since the advent of reform in 1992, the Russian authorities have made substantial strides toward creating a market economy through privatization. Recently, Russian authorities have established an institutional framework for a 'case-by-case' approach that ensures transparency and competition through the use of independent financial and other advisers. This paper contains the principal presentations made at a World Bank workshop on the lessons of international experience in case-by-case privatization.
Printed on Demand. Limited stock is held for this title. If you would like to order 30 copies or more please contact books@worldbank.org Contact books@worldbank.org, if currently unavailable. Globalization has increased competitive pressures on firms. Together with rapid technological change, it has altered the environment in which firms operate. While globalization offers unprecedented opportunities for firms to act successfully, it simultaneously heightens the risks for firms lagging behind. In an open and liberalized world, increasing firm competitiveness has become a major challenge. This volume provides a thorough analysis of the competitiveness of firms in the Middle East and North Afr...
The text provides an overview of privatization and emerging equity markets describes the role of privatization providing critical mass for new stock markets and examines investment opportunities that deepen existing stock markets.
As China continues in its evolution from a planned economy to a market economy, and from an agricultural to a manufacturing and service-oriented economy, issues arising from owner diversification, corporate governance, and labor resource allocation have come to the forefront. Most particularly, corporate governance is being focused on as the state continues its withdrawal from direct ownership. This study evaluates short- and medium- term corporate governance issues impacting companies involved in ownership diversification. It examines problems associated with governance such as cost and framework design and makes recommendations concerning the many facets of corporate governance.
The authors study differences in the use of two corporate governance provisions - cumulative voting and proxy by mail voting - in a sample of 224 firms located in four Eastern European countries. The report finds a significant relationship between ownership structure, and the use of corporate governance provisions. Firms with a controlling owner (owning more than 50 percent of shares) are less likely to adopt either of the two provisions. However, firms that have large, minority shareholders are more likely to adopt these provisions. The authors do not find any significant relationship between the use of these provisions, and foreign ownership. The results suggest that the decision to adopt these corporate governance provisions is influenced by large, minority shareholders in their battle for representation in the board, and in managerial decisions.