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Corporate Governance Country Assessment : ZambiaGood corporate governance ensures that companies use their resources more efficiently, protects minority shareholders, leads to better decision making, and improves relations with workers, creditors, and other stakeholders. It is an important prerequisite for attracting the patient capital needed for sustained long-term economic growth. This report provides an assessment of Zambia's corporate governance policy framework. It highlights recent improvements in corporate governance regulation, makes policy recommendations, and provides investors with a benchmark against which to measure corporate governance in Zambia. Tapping the potential of capital markets and professionalizing boards and management will require reform efforts to continue. The companies act should be revised and harmonized with the securities act. Revisions should be accompanied by an analysis of lessons learned from the recently revised companies act in the UK. Stakeholders should consider moving explicit protection against unfair related party transactions into the Code, and revising the non-financial disclosure framework for listed companies. The Lusaka Stock Exchange (LuSE) and its stakeholders should then consider revisions to the code and further develop the LuSE website as a primary source of information about listed companies. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) should continue to build its enforcement capacity, and to establish corporate governance enforcement priorities. More support and resources should be provided by the public and private sector to the Institute of Directors of Zambia.
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Uses and Limits of Conventional Corporate Governance Instruments : Analysis and Guidance for Reform - Part OneThis private sector opinion seeks to
 demonstrate that while conventional governance mechanisms
 can be highly effective in many situations, they are not
 appropriate remedies in all contexts. In some cases, the
 prescribed medicine actually exacerbated the governance
 ailment that it was designed to cure. To illustrate, the
 rapid growth of executive compensation persisted and in some
 markets, accelerated after the introduction of individual
 executive pay disclosure. In the financial sector, the shift
 toward a board dominated by independent directors perceived
 by many to be key for effective monitoring of management
 ultimately proved to be its Achilles' heel as weak
 industry knowledge meant that non-executive directors were
 unable to pick up on warning signs of imprudent risk taking
 by management. This section will examine how the core set of
 corporate governance instruments comprising transparency,
 independent monitoring, economic incentives, shareholder
 rights, and financial liability has been applied to
 different issues and contexts. It will discuss the extent to
 which these mechanisms have been effective and analyze the
 limits of their application by surveying cases where they
 have failed to work as intended. In addition, it will set
 forth proposals to improve the use of specific tools and
 suggest how certain governance issues should be addressed.
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Corporate Governance Country Assessment : Russian FederationThis report assesses Russia's corporate governance policy framework. It highlights recent improvements in corporate governance regulation, makes policy recommendations, and provides investors with a benchmark against which to measure corporate governance in Russia. Corporate governance has been a major policy issue in Russia since the beginning of its transition to a market economy. The privatization process of the early 1990s was put in place before most elements of the corporate governance and investor protection framework, and there were many widely publicized abuses, leading to very low asset prices. Most observers agree that the corporate governance environment has improved in recent years as the government has enhanced the legal and policy framework, and key institutions have grown in sophistication and maturity. Many major Russian companies have also voluntarily improved their financial and ownership transparency. A number of reform initiatives are currently underway. The report (and this summary) is organized into four sections: i) the commitment of the public and private sectors to reform; ii) shareholder rights; iii) disclosure and transparency; and iv) Boards of Directors. Policy recommendations are developed in detail at the end of each section. The report also includes a special annex that details the reform agenda focusing on related party transaction approval and disclosure, based on the approach of the Protecting Investors indicator developed in the World Bank's Doing Business report.