Consideration For Successful Implementation â€Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Consideration For Successful Implementation? Answer: Introduction The use of technology is increasing in every sector of business for improving the business process and integrating the different business operations. Effective use of technology helps in improving the business process and use of IT has a considerable effect in health care sector as well. Implementation of It in healthcare helps in supporting the management process of health information across the computerized system and helps in secure exchange of the health information between the patients or consumers and service providers (Jones et al. 2014). The report discusses the effective use of IT in healthcare sector, its benefits and the risks associated with the implementation of IT along with the basic requirements of implementing IT in the business. Need of IT in Healthcare Information technology can be effectively used in improving the quality of healthcare business. The different use of IT in healthcare sector are listed below (Cresswell and Sheikh 2013)- 1) Information Technology can be effectively used for designing the test base practices that would further help in reducing the human errors. 2) Implementation of technology helps in improving the linkages between the clinical healthcare system, emergency health networks and public health agencies (West 2012). 3) The implementation of IT in healthcare helps in improving the clinical decision-making and effective management of the different healthcare processes. 4) Use of IT reduces the cost of maintenance of the resources associated with the healthcare business. 5) IT can be effectively used in healthcare for improving the efficiency, cost effectiveness and quality and safety of delivering the clinical processes. Importance of IT in Business Survival Implementation of Information technology is very important for business survival, as with the emerging technologies, need of incorporating IT in the business processes becomes essential for business survival. Use of proper technology can help in improving the health indicators of people in many countries. This is because, now a days, mobile devices are accessed from even the remotest village and therefore, process of implementation of IT is very essential for business survival. Technology can be used to deliver high quality medical services across the country and thus will help in reaching a wider audience in a less cost, which is definitely beneficial for business (Bardhan and Thouin 2013). Requirements of implementing IT in healthcare business The requirements of implementing IT in healthcare business are listed below- 1) Proper selection of business process that is in need of IT and establishment of a proper working structure 2) Selecting a proper project management methodology and approach in implementation of IT (Schwalbe 2015) 3) Hiring a project manager who would plan the layout, monitor the project of implementation of IT, and provide a detailed list of the equipments needed to implement IT in business 4) The basic equipments that are required to implement IT in the business includes different telecommunication equipments, USB hubs, server, computer and monitors, digital healthcare equipments and so on. 5) Planning the entire implementation procedure is necessary for implementing IT in an effective way. The business objectives should be clear in order to develop and effective project plan (Cresswell, Bates and Sheikh 2013). 6) Training the staffs and employees about the proper use of the information Technology is essential for managing the performance of the IT equipments. Use of IT in Healthcare Business The use of Information Technology in healthcare business are elaborated in the following paragraphs- Use of IT by Employees The employees are responsible for managing the back end services of providing proper healthcare services to the patients. The health record of the patients are digitally stored and managed by the employees. This digital management and storing of the records and data considerably reduces the workload of the employees and further helps them in managing the different services in an effective way. Use of IT by Customers/Patients The patients will be significantly benefited by the implementation of information technology in business. With the implementation of IT, customers can keep a track of their clinical health records digitally and booking an appointment with the professionals in a more effective way. The customers furthermore, will be able to keep in touch with their doctors online, and therefore it will be easier for them to manage their health in a more effective way. The use of different electronic methods such as video conferencing or using telecommunication services in order to communicate with the physicians will considerably help in saving a lot of time and money of the patients (Schoen et al. 2012). Use of IT by Suppliers The suppliers of medicines and healthcare can make use of IT in providing services to their clients and customers in a more effective way. Emergence of online services is bringing a revolution in the field of healthcare and business. Advantages and benefits of IT in Healthcare The different advantages and benefits of implementing IT in healthcare are elaborated below- 1) Telemedicine is one of the biggest trends in healthcare industry and the implementation of IT in healthcare will considerably help in increasing the accessibility of the services. Computers and internet makes it easier for the medical service providers to keep in touch with the patients at their home. 2) Eliminates unnecessary traffic in the office, which in time helps in minimizing the bottleneck apart from providing an atmosphere of comfort and convenience to the patients (Lee, McCullough and Town 2013) 3) The computer or the information technology helps the patients to learn about their medical conditions and opportunities involved with the treatment decisions more effectively (Ventola 2014). 4) Implementation of project in a proper way considerably reduces the medical error thus keeping the organization away from lawsuits. 5) Technology helps in creating more efficient and a productive work force. Therefore, implementation of IT in the field of healthcare would further help in improving the business processes. 6) Patients can directly communicate with the care providers and therefore, it would help in increasing the customer satisfaction. This helps in improving the business to a quite extent as customer satisfaction forms a large part of business processes. Risks associated with the implementation of IT in business 1) One of the major risks associated with the implementation of IT in business of healthcare is safeguarding the privacy and confidentiality of the patients data and health records. 2) The out of date equipments possess a significant amount of security risks as improper security measures can lead to the data leakage and loss of data. 3) If any equipment misbehave or gives faulty result, it may risk patients life as well. Monitoring and Maintenance of IT Proper monitoring and maintenance of the IT equipments are essential for maintaining the smooth performance of the implemented information technology. The equipments are needed to be updated time to time, in order to eliminate any risk associated with the out of date devices. Proper maintenance of the devices can be ensured by appointing proper technicians for monitoring the IT equipments (Willcocks 2013). Conclusion Therefore, from the above discussion, it can be concluded that the healthcare sector will be benefited with the implementation of IT. This report discusses the need and use of IT in improvising the business process in Healthcare sector and in offering a much better service to the customers and patients. However, there are certain risks associated with the implementation of IT in healthcare business, which must be strategically mitigated in order to ensure better results. With the advancement of information technology, the need of IT in healthcare becomes inevitable. References Bardhan, I.R. and Thouin, M.F., 2013. Health information technology and its impact on the quality and cost of healthcare delivery.Decision Support Systems,55(2), pp.438-449. Cresswell, K. and Sheikh, A., 2013. Organizational issues in the implementation and adoption of health information technology innovations: an interpretative review.International journal of medical informatics,82(5), pp.e73-e86. Cresswell, K.M., Bates, D.W. and Sheikh, A., 2013. Ten key considerations for the successful implementation and adoption of large-scale health information technology.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association,20(e1), pp.e9-e13. Jones, S.S., Rudin, R.S., Perry, T. and Shekelle, P.G., 2014. Health information technology: an updated systematic review with a focus on meaningful use.Annals of internal medicine,160(1), pp.48-54. Lee, J., McCullough, J.S. and Town, R.J., 2013. The impact of health information technology on hospital productivity.The RAND Journal of Economics,44(3), pp.545-568. Schoen, C., Osborn, R., Squires, D., Doty, M., Rasmussen, P., Pierson, R. and Applebaum, S., 2012. A survey of primary care doctors in ten countries shows progress in use of health information technology, less in other areas.Health affairs,31(12), pp.2805-2816. Schwalbe, K., 2015.Information technology project management. Cengage Learning. Ventola, C.L., 2014. Mobile devices and apps for health care professionals: uses and benefits.Pharmacy and Therapeutics,39(5), p.356. West, D., 2012. How mobile devices are transforming healthcare.Issues in technology innovation,18(1), pp.1-11. Willcocks, L., 2013.Information management: the evaluation of information systems investments. Springe

8 Tips on How to Write an Essay Fast

With a truly tricky essay, 24 hours might be not enough. However, it might happen that you have less than an hour to craft a classy paper. Take your SATs for example. There, you’ll have to fit into a 30-minute time slot. Before you can write an essay quickly, you’ll need some committed training or a decent plan. If you didn’t have enough time to practice your speed writing skills, don’t worry. Because the key is detailed planning. So what’s the fastest way to write an essay? We’ll share with you the secrets of how to write essays faster below. â€Å"I need to write an essay fast. Do you have any tips?† A bunch of the following quick essay writing tips will lead you through this seemingly arduous task. They are the main steps you’d normally take when writing a paper. Before you get to them, we’d like to point out that the most important thing about fast-written essay is careful planning, remembering about time, and sticking to the point. 1. Plan Your Time How much do you have till you need to have the paper ready? If you have 30 minutes, then consider 10 minutes for outlining, 15 minutes for writing the body of your essay, and 5 minutes for revision. If you have an hour, then redistribute the time accordingly. Remember that you should spend at least â…• of your time on structuring, and at least  ½ on shaping the paper’s body. Don’t forget to include revision in your plan. 2. Read Your Essay Question Carefully and Answer It This step is crucial. If you understand the question vaguely from the beginning, you’ll be forced to go back to it when you should be focusing on writing. Come up with a quick answer in your head. This way, you’ll have the idea of what to write about. If you have trouble starting, brainstorm: write down anything that comes to mind first, and then choose what fits best. 3. Research to the Point If you need research, do it. Just look for the most specific information. Search for the key concepts you’re definitely going to use in your paper. Remember that you don’t have much time on the whole essay, so be brief and concise in your research. 4. Spend 20% of Your Time on Outlining Start with the simplest: break the essay into 5 paragraphs (a standard), including the introduction and conclusion. Each of them should contain a main point, evidence that supports it, summarizing sentences, and transitions to the next paragraph. Write your thesis statement in the intro. Ascertain that each paragraph’s key sentence is connected with the thesis statement. At this stage, all you need is to draft. You’ll finalize your sentences later. 5. Write down the Key Sentences for Each Paragraph (before You Write the Rest) You’ve drafted them when you did the outline. This time, make sure that your sentences are strong, precise, and don’t require further editing. Normally, you won’t need more than a couple of minutes. 6. Make the Introduction and Conclusion Solid You already have your thesis statement in the intro. So, write a hook preceding it —  a quote, a relevant anecdote in a sentence or two, or some statistical information associated with the topic. Also, make a transition to the body of your essay at the end of the intro. In the conclusion, re-summarize the thesis statement while linking it to the evidence that you are providing in the body paragraphs. Write a conclusive sentence that would place the information in your paper into a broader context. 7. Spend about 40% of Your Time Writing the Rest Here, you’ll write your supportive statements or provide evidence to your key points. You’ll introduce and summarize each paragraph and properly connect the parts of the essay together. That is the main chunk of your writing, for which you’ll require up to 40% of your time. There is no need to spend more. 8. Don’t Forget about Revision (5-10 Minutes) This step is essential, so make sure you’ve left some time for it. During the revision, pay attention to the general structure, thesis statement and the key sentences in each paragraph. Then check if everything in your text is logically connected. Afterwards, see that you have no errors or typos. Voila! Your essay is ready for submission. We’ve shared with you some of our own tricks on how to write a good essay fast. They involve carefully planned steps; sticking closely to your time limits; and keeping your research, writing, and revision strictly to the point. Any shift aside from your will only make you waste your time. In the end, if you know how to write an essay in an hour or less, you’ll not only deal with the task during your SATs, but you’ll be able to save so much of your valuable time during your studies at the college.

Compare and contrast the treatment of the play Hamlet by the directors Franco Zeffirelli and Kenneth Branagh Essays

Compare and contrast the treatment of the play Hamlet by the directors Franco Zeffirelli and Kenneth Branagh Essays Compare and contrast the treatment of the play Hamlet by the directors Franco Zeffirelli and Kenneth Branagh Paper Compare and contrast the treatment of the play Hamlet by the directors Franco Zeffirelli and Kenneth Branagh Paper Essay Topic: Hamlet To Build a Fire Many events have occurred in this complex play to put the main character, young Hamlet, in the position and frame of mind in which he finds himself at the beginning of the last scene of the play. Only months ago, his father died, seemingly from natural causes leaving everyone grief stricken. Yet within two months, Hamlets mother Gertrude had re-married to Hamlets uncle Claudius! Then the ghost of Hamlets father appears to him and tells him that Claudius murdered him and that he wants Hamlet to avenge his death. Hamlet also has a place in his heart for the beautiful Ophelia in whom he cannot trust. Hamlet cleverly proves Claudius guilt but manages to stab Ophelias father Polonius instead who is hiding behind a tapestry in Gertrudes room. Hamlet is then banished by Claudius to England where he is supposed to be beheaded. Meanwhile Ophelia goes mad with grief and drowns just after her brother Laertes comes home. Claudius receives word that Hamlet is on his way home so he and Laertes (who seeks to avenge the deaths of his father and his sister) plot to kill him upon his return. Hamlet gets back to find it is Ophelias funeral and he grieves for her. The plot created by Claudius and Laertes involves a fencing match and a poisoned blade, which is where we find ourselves at the beginning of the scene. Hamlets frame of mind before the fight is also unstable. He is still grieving for his father and is now grieving for Ophelia as well. He is angry with Claudius for his fathers murder and is still upset with his mother over her hasty re-marriage. Combined with the guilt for the grief he has caused Laertes, Hamlet is going mad and has become almost totally unbalanced. With everything that has happened and Hamlet being the sort of studious and contemplative person that he is it is not surprising that hes lost his mind. In Act 3 Scene 1, Hamlet gives his famous To be, or not to be, speech in which he contemplates suicide but says that he is scared of dying: For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, Since then Hamlet mind set has changed and just before the fight scene (Act 5 Scene 2) Hamlet says to Horatio: If it be now, tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come the readiness is all. Hamlet is now prepared to meet his fate if in fact death is his fate. This is the mindset he starts the fight in. In class we watched two exceedingly diverse film adaptations of Hamlet interpreted by two different directors. Im going to look at each of these and compare each component of them. Setting: The Zeffirelli movie stays true to Shakespeares 12th century setting. Elsinore is a dark medieval castle made from stone and encapsulates the feeling of the play very well. The Branagh adaptation however is set in the late 18th to early 19th century in a magnificent royal palace. Its very grand and has white marbled walls and a chequered black and white floor like a chessboard. This has a significant symbolism, as chess is a game that uses strategy to eliminate the opposition an almost perfect synopsis of the play. The place in which Hamlet and Laertes fight is also significantly different. In Zeffirelli, they fight in a square, wooden floor, almost like a boxing ring where opponents circle each other looking for an opportunity to strike. In Branagh, they play on a long thin red carpet and they almost chase each other up and down it before carrying the fight on up the staircases. Zeffirellis version is much more effective. You really get the feeling of the two characters sizing each other up and daring each other to make a move. Costume: In Zeffirellis adaptation, the character of Hamlet in particular is very scruffy with ragged brown hair, an unkempt beard and brown shabby clothes he certainly does not look at all like the heir to the throne. This is like chalk and cheese with the Branagh portrayal. In Branaghs version, Hamlet wears a red uniform. He has very short blonde hair in a military cut and is always clean-shaven. The other characters in Branagh also follow this trend the men in uniforms, the woman in luxurious dresses and the colours clean and bright. This is probably due to the occasion. In Zeffirelli however the men are, like Hamlet, in dishevelled clothes and dirty colours. The woman in simple plain dresses with little colour. But admittedly the costumes reflect the century, and the setting, very well. The part of the scene in which the fight takes place is subject to several costume changes. In Zeffirelli, Hamlet and Laertes start off wearing chain mail and then change to much heavier armour during the part in which Claudius tries to get Hamlet to drink the poisoned wine. At the point around where Gertrude drinks the poisoned wine, Hamlet and Laertes take off all their armour and play in only their shirts allowing for the wounds. Their clothes are very suited to the century simple armour made of heavy metal. In Branagh, as they are actually fencing, they wear white fencing jackets and fencing helmets (meshed face protection). But they begin the scene in their normal clothes and change before they start the fight. They take off there fencing jackets at the point before Gertrude drinks the wine and carry on the fight in vests and braces undergarments typical of the century. Speech: The two films use the original Shakespeare script very differently; the Branagh version uses almost every single word Shakespeare wrote but goes very over the top with the interpretation of it. The Zeffirelli version is more understated and cuts out a fair bit of what Shakespeare wrote but keeps the feel of a Shakespeare play much better. Music: Music in these films was used in varied ways. The Zeffirelli film had much more of a play feeling. There was very little if any background music put in. All the sounds were made by the people in the scene, the props (e. g. the clanking of the swords and the armour) or by the trumpets doing the fanfare. The Branagh version was nothing like this and in my opinion lost the feeling of a play and turned it into an epic movie feature not Im sure how Shakespeare imagined it. Right the way through the scene there is magnificent pieces of orchestral music, softer in the moments where a speech is being delivered and building for the more dramatic bits making the scene very overdone indeed and loosing its integrity. Props: Zeffirelli although normally keeping the play like feel, differed slightly from the script and instead of using foils (thin blades used in fencing), used heavier swords more suited to the 12th century setting. Branaghs 18th-19th century setting however called for the foils and they were much more suitable. But the heavy clashing together of the swords in Zeffirellis adaptation, was much more dramatic and some how more fitting to the events enfolding in the scene. The pearl and the goblet are also props in the scene but are not really seen. The goblets suited their setting and a pearl is after all a pearl. Acting: The acting styles of the two actors playing the part of Hamlet (Mel Gibson and Kenneth Branagh) are very different. Gibson does much better at getting the moody, contemplative and quintessentially mad sides of Hamlets character across and I feel is more like the Hamlet you read on the page. Branaghs Hamlet is very stiff upper lip and military. He also over accentuates the role. He is not the Hamlet written in Shakespeares script but he does convey the side of Hamlet we forget the fact that he is the son of a king brought up to face war. Branagh heavily portrays this side of him. Claudius (played by Alan Bates in the Zeffirelli movie and by Derek Jacobi in the Branagh movie), is much the same as Hamlets character in the Branagh, very stiff upper lip. Zeffirellis Claudius is much more frivolous and a bit of a wastrel less like a king and more like a stupid young man with too much power. Gertrude (played by Glen Close in the Zeffirelli movie and by Julie Christie in the Branagh movie), is at two ends of a long scale in the different movies. This time it is Zeffirelli who makes this character out to be much more than she is in the play and Glen Close plays up the role to a cringe worthy degree. Gertrudes part in this movie is very over dramatised and her death is painful to watch lots of gasping and making a spectacle of herself. This is totally different in the Branagh movie as Gertrude is very understated and in the end scene her death is hardly noticed. Laertes (played by Nathaniel Parker in the Zeffirelli movie and by Michael Maloney in the Branagh movie) is also, like Gertrude, played exceedingly differently in each movie. He acts much more like the wounded son and brother and the spurned friend in the Branagh version but seems to be very conceited and proud. He acts much friendlier toward Hamlet in the Zeffirelli movie and the feeling conveyed is that he really doesnt want to kill Hamlet. The Laertes portrayed in the Branagh film seems to really want revenge. In my opinion at this time in the play, Laertes is a mixture between these two versions of him. Death Scenes Claudius: Claudius death was always going to be dramatic its the culmination of the play Hamlet finally avenging his fathers death. But in the Branagh version dramatic is understated. When Branagh realises his mother is dead (hes currently fighting Laertes on the balcony/staircase) and who is to blame (Claudius) He jumps off the balcony and swings across the hall on the chandelier, jumps onto Claudius and stabs him! Then while Claudius is still pinned to the chair by the chandelier, Hamlet savagely forces Claudius to drink the poisoned wine that killed Gertrude. The way this is done in the Branagh film is so over the top its ridiculous you cannot even begin to take it seriously. The Zeffirelli version is still aggressive but to the right tone. The way its done means that you can understand the feelings being portrayed and how that now Hamlets work is done he can die peacefully. Gertrude: This time the Branagh movie is the one who understates the death of one of its main characters. Something it certainly doesnt do often. When Gertrude falls, the cameras attention is focused almost totally on the fight and you hardly even register that she has died. Zeffirelli makes so much out of her death that you cant stand to watch it. After a few seconds your totally sick of watching Glen Close gasp and retch. Another difference is that Hamlet isnt off fighting somewhere high on a balcony he is right next to her as she dies. Laertes: Laertes isnt a very main character in the play but is quite important in this final scene. His death isnt wonderfully memorable in either movie. In Zeffirelli, he is much friendlier toward Hamlet and his death is less aggressive. When he dies the courtiers surround him. In Branagh he is alone lying stretched out on the white marble floor but still uses his aggressive tones and has the same haughty attitude hes carried throughout the scene. Hamlet: In Zeffirelli, Hamlet delivers his final speech partly next to his dead mother and then moving out toward the middle of the fight ring. After his final words The rest is silence. The camera moves up and away from him as if the camera is his spirit going up to heaven. In Branagh he delivers the whole speech on the red carpet (also the place the fight started) and once he dies, his body is carried from the room with his arms falling in the shape of a cross, like a figure of Christ. Cameras: Branaghs camera use is very fussy, in particular around the part of the scene where Hamlet kills Claudius. Zeffirelli is much freer with his shots and you get much more of the feeling that you are watching a play and less of the feeling that this is the latest epic action flick. Fortinbras Scene: In the Zeffirelli movie the scene in which Prince Fortinbras comes to Elsinore is cut completely. This is probably to make a quicker, cleaner ending. But if you like to think deeply about films your left thinking ok what happens to Denmark? The play wraps tings up nicely with a friendly neighbour (Prince |Fortinbras) dropping in on his way to invade Poland and he ends up taking the throne! But in Branagh this is interpreted very wrongly. Branagh has a huge invasion going on. Prince Fortinbras soldiers are killing Hamlets soldiers, stabbing courtiers, smashing windows and generally being pain in the necks! Again Branagh has tried to make this movie into the latest epic action flick instead of a classic Shakespearian play. Very over the top. Conclusion My opinions of each of these films have already, Im sure, been made very obvious through the course of what I have written but Im going to elaborate on the points I made to draw a conclusion from this essay, including which film I think was most successful. The Branagh movie did nothing for me to put it very bluntly. It was over dressed and over done. Branagh, who is very good as an actor, lets himself down as a director. He reads too much into little things and has a habit of using his cameras very fussily. The final scene is the worst of them all and as someone who adores Shakespeare even I find this hard to take seriously. Imagine someone who is not very into Shakespeare they would think this was the funniest thing theyd ever seen but then they probably wouldnt sit through 3 and a half hours worth of film in a language they barely understand. To get anything from this movie you have to be very committed to Shakespeare indeed. This film may have been accurate to a fault when it came to using Shakespeares language, but when it came to doing things the way Shakespeare intended theyre way off the mark. Any of Shakespeares plays that are made into films should still hold the key essence of a play at their very heart. Zeffirelli does this very well. In the Zeffirelli movie you can really get the essence of what Shakespeare is about. Even though a lot of Shakespeares original words were cut out, the film still carried the story beautifully. The film is much shorter and easier to watch. For someone not used to Shakespeare this is a good film to watch and that is essentially what makes a film successful its audience appeal. Overall the two movies are very different and no two people would draw the same conclusions as I. They show superbly how differently the same tale can be interpreted. It gives you a better chance to look at the play through someone elses eyes and not just how you see it and interpret it. For me however I preferred the Zeffirelli movie because it kept that play like feel to it and is more true to the way Shakespeare told this story of revenge and tragedy.

Advertising and Its Drivers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Advertising and Its Drivers - Essay Example So exactly what is an advertisement or what can we understand by the term advertisement. Their have been different views regarding the concept of advertisement. According to John Burnett, "Advertisement is a non-personal communication of marketing related information to a target audience, usually paid by the advertiser and delivered through mass media in order to reach specific objective of sponsor". However according to the critic of advertising, Judith Williamson (1978, p.57) states that it's "the most ubiquitous form in which we encounter commercial photography" which means advertising is the 'official art' of the advanced industrial nation of the west. (Hackley, 2005)It occupies the newspapers and is covered all over with urban environment, it is highly systematize organization involving many artist, writer and film directors, and consist of a large amount of output of the mass media. Advertisements promote and affect the idea and value which are crucial to a particular economy s ystem. Thus a good advertisement is that, which we should not lose interest in their ideological functions, which is connected to their economic functions (Dyer, 1995 p.2). Another definition by (Longman, 1971) 'Advertising attempts to inform and persuade a large number of people with a single communication'. Therefore in its simple sense the word 'advertising' means capturing the attention to something or telling or advising somebody of something. (Dyer, 1995 p.2). Thus advertising can be seen as a medium for communicating or providing knowledge to the customers from a recognized authority or person. This range of activities also qualifies as marketing communication or marcoms. KEY DRIVERS OF MARCOMS ACTIVITIES Perception: Creating Shopping Power When something has been perceived, then it has been noted and the message is recorded. In the words of psychologist, W. H. Ittelson and F. T. Kilpatrick, perception can't be definite, of 'what is'. Rather what we perceive is created by ourselves, which is mostly based on past experiences (Bogart, 1995). Also people's perceptions of brand are governed by some factors which are personal and public (Fletcher, 1999 p.163). It is one of important challenges for an advertiser trying to reach the customers, either by any form of mass communication like newspaper, or television ad so that they could notice it. Even sometimes the consumer miss out some messages directed to them. So the main thing is to give them exposure. (Wells, Burnett and Moriarty1992, p. 241). For example if all the ads are in colors then a black and white will be noticed, which is what Chanel did with their Nicole Kidman glossy ad for Chanel Perfume which would be place at the back cover of magazines like Cosmopolitan so as to give covert instead of ostensive communication. So by this the customers attention can be taken. (Hackley, 2005) This can be seen in the use of a ground breaking issue to position an advertisement. An example of this may be found in the 'Torches of Liberty Contingent' campaign aimed at expanding cigarette sales manifold by encouraging women to smoke. This campaign was launched and executed by Bernays in 1929. He was inspired by Sigmund Freud's view that actions are crystallised by the subconscious motivations. Another line of thought that he followed was based on the theory of psychoanalyst Brill, who held that women equated smoking as an expression of their freedom. Bernays campaign prompted women to start smoking during the Easter Day parade of 1929. While this enjoyed mixed reactions and extensive media reactions, the combination of liberation and democracy - both of which were emerging trends of the time - helped Barnays earn a place in history besides

Online flower ordering system Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Online flower ordering system - Essay Example Our vision is to become the leading florist in the locality. We seek to be the most sought after company amongst the local people for delivering flowers reliably. We value the satisfaction of our customers and aim at being part of their memorable moments in life. Our mission is to be a company whose delivery services the local people can reach and use easily and be satisfied with. We seek to provide a good quality, easily accessible, highly reliable, fresh flowers delivery solution to the local people. Our company has successfully been providing flower delivery services to the local area people. The people can place orders in two ways. They can choose to come directly to the shop, check the rates, personally select the flowers and make the payment in advance, provide the recipient’s address, set delivery date and time and thus place a delivery order. They can also choose the flowers and place a delivery order over the phone. The payment can be made through a credit card or by hand. In case of credit card the required details are provided to the sales representative along with the recipient’s address. In case of opting to pay by hand by a customer on phone, the representative of the shop notes down the address of the customer, and then collects the payment from the customer from his doorstep. Since, use of Internet has increased enormously in the area; therefore, it was thought of to make the delivery service of the company accessible over the Internet as well. Currently there is no other company that offers such an online facility, so our company would be the pioneer in introducing the idea in the area. This would contribute in not only increasing the number of satisfied customers but also raise the company’s revenue. Additionally, in case of any renowned event approaching and some special flowers have been arranged for the event, advertisements can be spread easily over the Internet through the customer’s email addresses. The complete setup for delivering flowers is already in place. So incorporating an online sales end would not affect the overall system structure and process. 3. Department and Structure The company runs a completely working flower delivery system. The overall organization comprises of four departments; Figure 1 Organization Structure Sal es: Handles the placement of orders and receipt of payments. Production: Handles for arranging the required flowers. In case, some particular flowers are not in stock, the department can also purchase the requested flowers. Finance: Handles the purchase and investment on flowers, the revenue acquired per day, the fuel consumption and employees pays. Delivery: Handles the delivery of flowers to relevant recipients. It deals with the personnel, their conveyance and routes issues. Every department has a manager who handles the overall working of the related department. The online system shall be introduced as part of the existing sales department. The online system would serve as an additional means of gathering customers through online placement of orders. 4. SWOT Analysis Strengths: Well defined divisions of the departmental activities. Easy incorporation to the existing setup of the organization. Weaknesses: Training of the sales staff would be required to use the web interface. Har dware and software would be required to run the website and access it. Investment would be required for website development and hosting. Opportunities: Absence of a similar online flower delivery service in the

One country Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

One country - Essay Example tains a very diverse landscape, including a large desert and flatlands region as well as fertile, mountainous plateau regions in which the majority of farming and other agricultural activities occur (Davison, 2001). Two main rivers, the Tana and Galana, run actively through the fertile region of Kenya and empty into the Indian Ocean to the East (Kenyaology.com, 2007). This is the likely reason why this particular region of the country, known as the Kenyan Highlands, is so fertile as it is continuously irrigated by the two rivers. Additionally, of significant assistance to Kenyan residents is the close proximity to the Indian Ocean by which a great deal of foreign trade can be delivered or exported, providing a more direct ocean-going trade route to the East rather than ground travel across a harsh African landscape (Kenyaology.com). Many people may think of Kenya and automatically envision harsh desert environments, however Figure 1 illustrates the lush fertile region known as the Ke nyan Highlands where Mount Kenya towers into the sky. Climate patterns in Kenya are quite diverse, however in most respects, they range in magnitude from harsh, dry desert-like conditions to that of regions which receive continuous rainfall. In the dryer, Northern plains region, the average temperatures are maximum 34.8 degrees and minimum 23.7 degrees, both in Celsius (Kenyaology.com). These are significantly warmer temperatures in comparison to the United States, indicating that this particular region of Kenya maintains virtually no temperate climate. In the city of Eldoret, which is one of the larger-populated cities at an elevation of 3,085 feet above sea level, the climate is much more temperate, subject to changes in seasons much like that of the Midwest region of the United States. In this area, average temperatures are a maximum of 23.6 C and 9.5 C, making this region rich for agricultural and other farming activities (Klein, 1999). In yet another region of the country,

Corporate Performance of Malaysian Public Companies

Corporate Performance of Malaysian Public Companies 1.0 Introduction and motivation of study The issues of ownership and corporate governance have been discussed broadly in the prior literature especially in developed markets. However, in emerging economies like Malaysia, the issues received a vigorous impetus when the Asian Financial Crisis (AFC) hit Malaysia with severity in 1997/98. The AFC had depressed the economy to negative 7.5% in 1998, around 84,000 people lost their job and Malaysian capital market lost estimated USD200 billion in term of market capitalization during the crisis (Series of Malaysia Economic Reports). At the same time, the value of Malaysian currency had been decrease dramatically from 2.52 ringgit to the US dollar in June, 1997 to a lowest of 4.50 ringgit to the US dollar in January, 1998 (Tourres, 2003), plunging the country into its first recession for many years. Weak financial systems, excessive foreign borrowing and lack of transparency were among factors that contributed to the crisis (Fischer, 1998). Following the AFC, the Malaysian government introduced several reform measures to enhance transparency and accountability to restoring market confidence and encourage more stable and long term international investment. Example of these are the establishment of the Malaysian Institute of Corporate Governance (MICG) in 1998, the introduction of Malaysian Code of Corporate Governance (MCCG) in March 2000  [1]  which codified the principles and best practices of good governance and the launched of Malaysias Capital Market Master Plan in 2002 as a comprehensive plan that identifies the strategic positioning and future of the Malaysian capital market. The Minority Shareholders Watchdog GROUP (MSWG) was also setup in 2001 as respond to the AFC. This study focuses on Malaysias capital market mainly because of the confidence shown by the international business community concerning investments in Malaysia especially after the economy has fully recovered from the AFC. Based on The Productivity and Investment Climate Survey, World Bank 2009, which reports firms perceptions of the business environment, suggests that Malaysia is a relatively attractive place for investors. Meanwhile, Report on Doing Business 2010 ranked Malaysia 23rd out of 183 economies for ease of doing business and recently the World Competitiveness Scoreboard 2010 placed Malaysia 10th of the most competitive economy in the world, up from 18th place in the previous year. The achievement of Malaysia economy to date partly contributing through the active roles plays by the government-linked companies (GLCs) that form the backbone of the structure of the Malaysian economy. GLCs and their controlling shareholders, government-linked investment companies (GLICs), constitute a significant part of the economic structure of Malaysia. GLCs employ an estimated 5% of the national workforce, account for approximately 49% of market capitalization (Ringgit Malaysia 235.5 billion) of Bursa Malaysia Securities, contributes about 17 percent of the nations gross fixed capital formation and account for almost 10 percent of Gross Domestic Product (Malaysia Economic Report, 2009/2010). More than that, GLCs also plays an important role in executing government policies and initiatives especially in key sectors and new growth sectors. Even with active divestment and privatization, GLCs remained as the main service providers to the nations key strategic utilities and services including electricity, telecommunications, airlines, airports, public transportations, banking and financial services. On top of that, GLCs also on forefront in implementing recommendations of the best practices affirmed in Malaysian Code of Corporate Governance for Malaysian Public Listed Companies (Corporate Governance Survey Report, 2008). In the meantime, Corporate Governance Watch 2007, an annual collaborative study of corporate governance landscape of Asian market undertaken by independent stockbroker CLSA Asia Pacific Markets and the Asian Corporate Governance Association noted general improvement at the GLCs, a function of GLCs reforms and greater openness. Finally, the research on GLCs performance in Malaysia is also very important in order to investigate the real achievement of GLCs Transformation Program, the special program that was launched in May 2004 by Malaysian government to improve the performance of GLCs. Recently, the total shareholder return of a selection of top 20 GLCs, has outperformed the benchmark index of Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) by a compounded annual growth rat e of 2.4 percent since the launch of the program (Business Times, 2009). Motivate by the above reason, part of this study attempts to examine whether or not government ownership lead to better company performance by focusing on the unique characteristics of government ownership in GLCs. The research is an attempt to extend the literature in this field and to provide new insight and understanding on the roles of state in emerging market considering the limited number of research in this area. Hence, the first part of this study attempts to answer the following primary research question: Is there any significant relationship between ownership structure of government- linked companies in Malaysia and firm value? 2.0 Theoretical Foundations of the Study There are number of different theoretical frameworks to explain and analyze corporate governance. Difference frameworks approaches corporate governance in different way, for example; the agency theory arises from the fields of finance and economics and the stakeholder theory arises from social-orientated perspective on corporate governance. According to Mallin (2010, p.14), the main theories that have affected the development of corporate governance are agency theory, transaction cost economics, stakeholder theory and stewardship theory. All these theory from difference disciplines have contributed to the development of theoretical aspects of corporate governance and its frameworks. However, the main theory that generally associated with ownership of the firm is agency theory that widely used in previous researches around the world. Theoretical and empirical researches on the relationship between ownership and firm value was originally motivated by the separation of ownership from control (Berle Means, 1932) and more recently, by agency theory (Jensen Meckling, 1976; Fama Jensen, 1983). In this theory, the basic assumption is that the goals and objectives of the principals (owners) and managers (agents) conflict. The central problem in corporate governance is to construct rules and incentive to effectively align the behavior of managers with the desires of principals (Hawley and Williams, 1996). The problem of agents being responsible to principals is that it compounds the agency costs identified by Jensen and Meckling (1976) with the basic assumption is that managers will act opportunistically to further their own interests before shareholders and one of the main reasons that the desired actions of principal and agent diverge is their different attitude towards risk (Shankman, 1999). Under the circumstances, in Malaysia where there is a high concentration of government ownership in firms (Tam and Tan, 2007) and high percentage of firms affiliated to government (La Porta et al., 1999), the government ownership actually has capacity to provide a control mechanisms to align management personal objectives with firm objectives and eventually increase the firm value. Parts of GLCs in Malaysia are privatized firms during Malaysian Privatization Policy in 1990s. Hence, the firms always related to political variables and in that stance the political view of GLCs conceive that the high level of government interferences resulted of inefficiency to the firm rather than facilitate the operation. 3.0 Literature Review and Research Gaps In Malaysia context, GLCs are defined as companies that have a primary commercial objective and in which the Malaysian government has a direct controlling stake via the GLICs. The GLICs are investment arms of the government that allocate government funds to the GLCs (Putrajaya Committee on GLC High Performance, 2004; Lau and Tong, 2008). Meanwhile, the controlling stake here refers to the governments ability (not just percentage ownership) to appoint board members, senior management and/or make major decisions. The Ministry of Finance (1993) classify GLCs as one in which the Malaysian government had an effective ownership interest of at least 20 percent of equity shares. Twenty percent voting rights in one particular company is considered to be sufficient for effective control and is employed in previous studies on ownership (La Porta et al.,1999; Faccio et.al., 2001 and Setia-Atmaja, 2009). Majority of GLCs under the federal government are under Khazanah Nasional Berhad, one of the most active GLICs in Malaysia  [2]  . Empirical studies on the relationship between government ownership and firm performance on the whole produced inconclusive results. Study by Ang and Ding (2005) on the relationship between ownership structure of Singaporean GLCs and performance found that GLCs exhibit higher valuations than those of the non-GLCs. In a related study, Ke and Issac (2007) report that governments shareholding is positively related to corporate performance of Chinas listed property companies, suggested that the economy sector is matter in the country. The findings however inconsistent with other empirical studies on the government ownership in China where in overall found the negative relationship between these two variables. For example, Sun and Tong (2003); McGuiness and Ferguson (2005); Gunasekarage, Xu and Wang (1999) and Li, Sun and Zou (2009) find that on average, the firms performance is negatively influenced by the governments ownership. Research in Malaysia on the relationship between government ownership and performance is lacking and also show mixed findings. Recently, Lau and Tong (2008) conducted a research on the impact of government intervention on firm value by employed 15 listed GLCs under Khazanah Nasional Berhad from year 2000 to 2005 (90 firm-year observations). They reveal a significant positive relationship between the degree of government ownership and firm value. However, this study has shortcomings as the selected data sets of 15 GLCs a year under Khazanah Nasional Berhad are too small and not robust enough to represent the overall GLCs performance. In fact, there are many more listed GLCs under the controlled of federal government GLICs  [3]  as well as GLCs under the state government jurisdiction. This research aims to address this issue by providing in-depth examinations and comprehensive study on all GLCs both at federal and state level. In a related study in Malaysia, Tam and Tan (2007) find that the performance of firms associated to government ownership is poor compared to others ownership types namely; individual-owned firms, foreign-owned firms and trust fund-owned firms. The study involved the top 150 listed companies on Bursa Malaysia Securities based on their ranking according to their market capitalization in 2000. The similar results also found in research by Ming and Gee (2008); and Chu and Cheah (2006) that show the negative relationship between government ownership and firms corporate performance. However, those studies also have limitations as they fail to properly identify the unique characteristics of GLCs ownership in Malaysia. In their studies, they group together all types of GLCs in one group in an attempt to find its relationship to performance without addressing issues of (i) the different type of GLCs controlled by federal government and GLCs controlled by states government and (ii) the differe nt type of shares in GLCs. With regard to the first issue, distinctions should be made between GLCs controlled by federal government (GLCFGs) and those controlled by state governments (GLCSGs) predominantly because they are difference in aspects of monitoring by federal government machineries and GLICs. GLCFGs subjected to strict supervision and monitoring not only by its GLICs but by ministries concerned under federal government. For example, Tenaga Nasional Berhad, a GLCFG is the largest electric utility company in Malaysia with one governments special share and majority of it ordinary shares owned by Khazanah Nasional Berhad . The Ministry of Finance responsible to the issues pertaining to the corporate matters of the company such as the approval entity for appointment of CEO/board of directors, their contract extension or termination, company performance etc. The selection of company chairman or CEO is carefully chosen based on their capability and suitability to head the organization. In the meantime, matters pertaining to policy such as approval for electric tariff increment and monitoring of company obeying to energy policy of Malaysia are under the responsibility of Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water as a guardian ministry. In addition, National Audit Department also conducting an annual auditing or special auditing to this company to be reported in Auditors General Report that eventually to be presented in Parliament. Furthermore, Public Accounts Committee, a committee under Parliament also have right to investigate whatever issues surrounding the company such as mismanagement or issues highlighted in Auditors General Report. With all these stringent monitoring systems, the GLCFGs are more cautious in their actions and eventually lead to good corporate performance in the long run. On the other hand, the extent of monitoring and supervision of GLCSGs by respective state governments is weaker. All issues pertaining GLCSGs are to be monitor and solve by State Economic Development Corporation (SEDC), a controlling agency cum main shareholder of GLCSGs. As contended in Agency Theory, lack of monitoring efforts will increase the agency costs that eventually lead to poor firm performance. Furthermore, GLICs at federal government have more systematically systems and incentives in monitoring and improve its GLCs performance compared to its counterpart in state government. For example is the establishment of a special program aims to transform GLCs to high performers entity called GLCs Transformation Program (GTP) that was launched in May 2004. Under this program, 20 larger GLCs (G-20) that controlled by different federal government GLICs has been selected to be transformed into high performance entity and become regional or global champions. Since the launch the programme, G-20 have made significant improvement especially on their financial aspects with operating cash flow for non-financial G-20 firms grew by 42% from RM14 billion in 2004 to RM20 billion in 2008. At the same time, aggregate earnings for 2008 also 53% higher compared to performance in 2004 and total shareholder returns has outperformed the benchmark index of Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) by a compo unded annual growth rate of 4.8% since the launch of the program (GTP Mid-Term Progress Review, 2009). With regard to this issue, based on above motivations the current study argue that the performance of listed GLCs controlled by federal government are better than it counterparts under the controlled of state government. On the second issue, previous studies with concerned to government ownership and performance have ignored the very important characteristic of GLCs in Malaysia which is GLCs with governments one special share or golden share. As a background, to stimulate economic growth and reduce Government financial burden, privatization policy was introduced in 1983 and a lot of government entities as well as hundreds of government projects had been implemented by private sector. From 1983 until 2003, 474 projects and 457 government entities had been privatized from 1983 until 2005 involving assets sale of RM1.54 billion and equity sales of RM4.94 billion (Economic Planning Unit, Prime Minister Department). Various type of privatization such as sale, leased, management contract and build-lease-transfer have been used. However, in some strategic entities such as ports, main utilities provider (e.g. Tenaga Nasional Berhad) and national carrier (Malaysian Airlines Systems Berhad), Malaysian governme nt directly retained one special share or well known as golden share on top of ordinary shares that possess by GLICs on behalf of the government. In this type of GLCs, the degree of Government interference is excessively. The golden share grant government not only right to control companys direction including the appointment/dismissal of Chairman, Board member, CEO and senior management but also make major decisions such as restructuring exercise, mergers and acquisition, assets disposal and even cancel whatever decision make by the firms for the interest of government  [5]  by the government in 2001 with cost closed to Ringgit Malaysia one billion (Jalleh M., 2005) was a good example of how this type of GLCs being protected by the government. Another prominent case was the bailout of national car company Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional or Proton by state-owned oil company, Petroliam Nasional Berhad (known as Petronas) during the AFC through cash injected by instruction of the gove rnment (Restall, 2000). Based on the arguments, the present study believed that, this type of firms should be treated separately from other normal GLCs to moderate the impact of government interventions. By group them together into one group of GLCs as carried out by previous studies in Malaysia is inappropriate and may have distorted their studies result. This research basically will address both of these issue by differentiate all GLCs in Malaysia into groups according to their controlling agency at federal or state level and also based on their type of shares to observe their impact to firms corporate performance. This study expected to form a distinctive contribution to the knowledge and provide new facts on some elements of the government ownership in emerging economies by providing in-depth analysis on the issue. To the best of my knowledge, no particular researcher so far focuses on examining government ownership and firm value by make use of these proposed approaches. In addition to that, others variable that related to government ownership such as the role of politicians, government official and ex- government officials as board members in GLCs and also the influence of degree of government ownership in GLCs will also be tested. 4.0 Hypotheses development This present study ultimately intended to test for any association between ownership structures of GLCs and firm value. A total of seven aspects have been identified and the hypotheses developed as to their probable effect and firm performance. 4.1 GLCs under federal and state government and firm performance There were not studies specifically relate this variable with performance in Malaysia, but study by Chen, Firth and Xu (2009) on Chinas listed company revealed that the performance of State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) affiliated to central government or in Malaysian context is federal government is outperformed their counterpart which are related to state and local government. They also argued that different form of government ownership have different motivation and objectives on investment and it lead to different performance outcomes for the companies they have invested in. According to Loh (2008), the Malaysias constitutional design clearly favors the federal over the state governments, both in term of legislative jurisdictions as well as in terms of revenue assignments. Based on this argument and motivations on the effectiveness of monitoring systems by federal government as discussed in 3.0, the proposed hypothesis is: H1: The impact of GLCs controlled by federal government on firm performance is stronger than GLCs controlled by states government 4.2 GLCs with governments special share and firm performance As explained in Section 3.0 above, governments golden share providing the government will unlimited power to control company directions and sometimes lead to misallocation of resources by the companies itself or by the government in order to assist them. The holding agency of this share is Ministry of Finance Incorporated, the entity under Ministry of Finance, Malaysia.  Although there is no empirical study so far that investigate the relationship between governments special share and performance in Malaysia, but study by Sun, Tong H.S, and Tong (2002) from Chinas privatization experience shows that too much government interference and control of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) was among the reasons of SOEs poor performance. Another argument is that, as of the perspective of minority shareholders, too much intervention from government will jeopardize the companys development and resulted poor performance in the long run. Hence, this type of company is not attractive for investo rs. Therefore, it is hypothesized that: H2: The impact of GLCs without governments golden share on firm performance is stronger than GLCs with governments golden share 4.3 Degree of government ownership and firm performance Like many others East Asian countries, Malaysias corporate sector also experiencing a high level of ownership concentration (Liew, 2007; La Porta et al., 1998). Gunasekarage et. al (2006) in their study on influence of the degree of state ownership on the performance of listed Chinese companies conclude that firms performance is significant at high levels of government ownership and a balanced ownership structure enhances the firm performance. Study by Ke and D.Isaac (2007) in China listed property companies from 2000 to 2002 also reveals that the government shareholding is positively related to corporate performance. In Malaysia context, Lau and Tong (2008) in their study of 15 listed GLCs in Bursa Malaysia for the period of 2000 to 2005 find a significant positive relationship between the degree of government ownership  [6]  and firm value. However, this study has limitation in term of selected data sets as laid out in Section 3.0. Therefore the variable will be re-testing with more comprehensive data sets in order to have more concrete and robust evidence on the influence of this variable to firm performance. In line with agency theory that concentrated ownership in more effective in reducing managerial agency cost, the proposed hypotheses are: H3: There is a significant relationship between governments ownership degree in GLCs and firm performance 4.4 Politicians as director and firm performance GLCs traditionally has some of its boards of directors that had affiliations with the ruling party especially those GLCs that previously under government control and later on involved in privatization. Johnson and Mitton (2003) noted that as of October 1999, 15.8% or 67 out of 424 firms listed on the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia Securities are politically connected to the ruling party. Empirical evidence on the association between politicians as director and its impact to firm value is inconclusive. Study by Xu, Zhu and Lin (2005) on state owned enterprises in China revealed that politicians have incentives to control the firms to achieve economically inefficient objectives for political purposes. In a related study, Shleifer and Vishny (1994) exposed that excess employment and wages are common in public enterprise that control by politicians. This unhealthy phenomenon could lead to wrong managerial investment decisions and result in misallocation of companys resources that eventuall y reduce the firm value. Boubakri, Cosset and Saffar (2008) investigate the association between political connections of newly privatized firms and the impact to performance. The study involved 245 privatized firms in 27 developing and 14 industrialized countries and the existence of political connections is based on whether the particular firms have a politician or an ex-politician on their boards. They find that the politically-connected firms exhibit a poor performance compared to their non-connected counterparts. The similar result also found in Fan et. al (2007). Meanwhile, Fisman (2001) in his study in Indonesia and Faccio (2006) in analysis of 47 countries find a significant relationship between these two variables. In the context of Malaysia where business and politics are inter-related (Gomez and Jomo, 1997) indicated that, participation of politicians in GLCs might have effects on firm value as they act as a link between the governments and companys management. Therefore, it is hypothesized that, H4: There is a significant relationship between politician as director and firm performance 4.5 Government officials as board member in GLCs and firm performance GLCs are created partly to implement government policy objectives especially those established as a result of privatization exercises in the early eighties. Hence, most of their board of directors are civil servants either still in-service or formal government officials that act as eyes and ear of government as well as communication bridge between the management and the government. Agrawal and Knoeber (2001) in their study found that the politically experience directors that comprises former government officials benefits the company they served and noted that they are more prevalent in firms compare to others outside directors. In a related study in Singapore that involved 25 GLCs and 204 non-GLCs for the period from 1990 to 2000, Ang and Ding (2006) found that GLCs exhibit higher valuations than those of the non-GLCs in the area of profitability, efficiency and firms financial performance. Like Malaysian GLCs, Singapore GLCs also comprises government officials in their board. At suc h, it is hypothesized that, H5: There is a significant relationship between in service government official as director and firm performance H6: There is a significant relationship between former government official as director and firm performance 5.0 Research design and methodology 5.1 Data and sample design The first model in this research is designed to examine the impact of ownership structure on corporate performance of all GLCs listed on the main board of Bursa Malaysia Securities for the period of five years (2004 until 2008). To ensure that the sample clearly represented the population intended for the research and to harmonious the selected sample to the GLCs definition, the sample selection is based on the following criteria: At any time, one specific GLICs either at federal or states government level must be the single largest shareholder with at least 20% share ownership in one particular company on Main Board of KLSE and; The financial and unit trust companies are excluded as they are governed by different set of rules and acts that could affect the end findings of this study. In addition, all required financial data for the study period are to be available in databases (Datastream or Thomson Research) and information on ownership and corporate governance structure from companies respective audited annual report. The study constructs an unbalanced panel data of all GLCs during the study period. This approach has the advantage of attrition biases in correlation (Hu and Izumida, 2008). The observations period of 2004 to 2008 is chosen mainly because the period was the phase of economic stability in Malaysia when the countrys economy and capitals market activities fully recovered after the Asian Financial Crisis. The performance chart in Figure 2 below reveals that prior to AFC, the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) in average has been trading in an upward trend. However, the AFC push down the KLCI to below 600 during the peak of the crisis. The post-crisis period has seen steady increase in the value of the KLCI even though until 2006 Bursa Malaysia Securities still has some 200 companies trading at more than 50 percent discount to their book values (James, 2006). Another reason for the chosen period is to evaluate the impact of GLCs Transformation Program that launch in May 2004 by Malaysian government to improve performance of GLCs. 5.2 Methodology 5.2.1 The proposed model The following base model will be used to test the hypotheses that have been defined in the previous section: PERFORM = ÃŽÂ ± + ÃŽÂ ²1FG_GLC + ÃŽÂ ²2SG_GLC + ÃŽÂ ²3GOLD + ÃŽÂ ²4GOV_OWN + ÃŽÂ ²5POL + ÃŽÂ ²6GO_BOD + ÃŽÂ ²7EX-GO_BOD + ÃŽÂ ²8LOG_SIZE + ÃŽÂ ²9LEV + ÃŽÂ ²10BOD_SIZE + ÃŽÂ ²11BOD_MEET + ÃŽÂ ²12BOD_IND + ÃŽÂ µi Where; PERFORM = the dependent variables: proxy by ROA, ROE and Tobins Q; Independent variables: FG_GLC = GLCs under federal government (equal to 1 if a firm is under federal government, and 0 otherwise) SG_GLC = GLCs under state government (equal to 1 if a firm is under states government, and 0 otherwise) GOLD = GLCs which government owned one golden share (equal to 1 if a firm has governments golden share, and 0 otherwise) GOV_OWN = captures the percentage of government ownership in a GLC POL = captures the percentage of politician on the board GO_BOD = captures the percentage of government official in-service on the board EX-GO_BOD = captures the percentage of ex-government official on the board Control variables: LOG_SIZE = natural log of total assets as proxy of firm size LEV = firm leverage (total liabilities to total assets) BOD_SIZE = number of board of directors during the year BOD_MEET = number of board of directors meetings during the year BOD_IND = captures the percentage of independent directors on the board ÃŽÂ µi = error term 5.2.2 Operationalization of variable selection 5.2.2.1 The dependent variable The dependent variable in this study is firm performance that comprises accounting and market based performance namely return on assets (ROA)  [8]  and Tobins Q. They are to be employed in this study to measure the impact of ownership structure on corporate performance. The accounting-based performance is the most common types of performance measurement in assessing business performance. In this approach, annual report, which comprises income statements, balance sheets and statements of changes in financial position are the source of information to analyze companys financial performance for one particular financial year. This approach is very important for companys stakeholders such as potential investors since the indicator can help them in making investment decisions. It also vital in helping the companys shareholders to assess how well the company performed in market place in order to make decisions on management and employees rewards, setting suitable plans to sustain the goo d momentum or even take drastic approaches for company to remain in business. The accounting-based performance also helps manager to effectively plan and control in order to achieve the objectives of the company. For example, according to Thompson Yeung (2001), return on equity as one of the accounting-based measurements can accommodate the effect of different accounting procedures across industries and can minimize the multi-linearity between companys specific characteristics such as size, age and profitability. Both ROA and ROE are the most common measurement used in analyzing financial performance of companies and have been used widely in previous studies (Vafeas,1999; Abdullah,2004; Bhagat Black, 2002; Rahman Haniffa 2006; Ang Ding, 2006; Bhagat Bolton; 2008 and Chu, 2009). Since accounting-based performance measures the past and current performance of the firm, m Corporate Performance of Malaysian Public Companies Corporate Performance of Malaysian Public Companies 1.0 Introduction and motivation of study The issues of ownership and corporate governance have been discussed broadly in the prior literature especially in developed markets. However, in emerging economies like Malaysia, the issues received a vigorous impetus when the Asian Financial Crisis (AFC) hit Malaysia with severity in 1997/98. The AFC had depressed the economy to negative 7.5% in 1998, around 84,000 people lost their job and Malaysian capital market lost estimated USD200 billion in term of market capitalization during the crisis (Series of Malaysia Economic Reports). At the same time, the value of Malaysian currency had been decrease dramatically from 2.52 ringgit to the US dollar in June, 1997 to a lowest of 4.50 ringgit to the US dollar in January, 1998 (Tourres, 2003), plunging the country into its first recession for many years. Weak financial systems, excessive foreign borrowing and lack of transparency were among factors that contributed to the crisis (Fischer, 1998). Following the AFC, the Malaysian government introduced several reform measures to enhance transparency and accountability to restoring market confidence and encourage more stable and long term international investment. Example of these are the establishment of the Malaysian Institute of Corporate Governance (MICG) in 1998, the introduction of Malaysian Code of Corporate Governance (MCCG) in March 2000  [1]  which codified the principles and best practices of good governance and the launched of Malaysias Capital Market Master Plan in 2002 as a comprehensive plan that identifies the strategic positioning and future of the Malaysian capital market. The Minority Shareholders Watchdog GROUP (MSWG) was also setup in 2001 as respond to the AFC. This study focuses on Malaysias capital market mainly because of the confidence shown by the international business community concerning investments in Malaysia especially after the economy has fully recovered from the AFC. Based on The Productivity and Investment Climate Survey, World Bank 2009, which reports firms perceptions of the business environment, suggests that Malaysia is a relatively attractive place for investors. Meanwhile, Report on Doing Business 2010 ranked Malaysia 23rd out of 183 economies for ease of doing business and recently the World Competitiveness Scoreboard 2010 placed Malaysia 10th of the most competitive economy in the world, up from 18th place in the previous year. The achievement of Malaysia economy to date partly contributing through the active roles plays by the government-linked companies (GLCs) that form the backbone of the structure of the Malaysian economy. GLCs and their controlling shareholders, government-linked investment companies (GLICs), constitute a significant part of the economic structure of Malaysia. GLCs employ an estimated 5% of the national workforce, account for approximately 49% of market capitalization (Ringgit Malaysia 235.5 billion) of Bursa Malaysia Securities, contributes about 17 percent of the nations gross fixed capital formation and account for almost 10 percent of Gross Domestic Product (Malaysia Economic Report, 2009/2010). More than that, GLCs also plays an important role in executing government policies and initiatives especially in key sectors and new growth sectors. Even with active divestment and privatization, GLCs remained as the main service providers to the nations key strategic utilities and services including electricity, telecommunications, airlines, airports, public transportations, banking and financial services. On top of that, GLCs also on forefront in implementing recommendations of the best practices affirmed in Malaysian Code of Corporate Governance for Malaysian Public Listed Companies (Corporate Governance Survey Report, 2008). In the meantime, Corporate Governance Watch 2007, an annual collaborative study of corporate governance landscape of Asian market undertaken by independent stockbroker CLSA Asia Pacific Markets and the Asian Corporate Governance Association noted general improvement at the GLCs, a function of GLCs reforms and greater openness. Finally, the research on GLCs performance in Malaysia is also very important in order to investigate the real achievement of GLCs Transformation Program, the special program that was launched in May 2004 by Malaysian government to improve the performance of GLCs. Recently, the total shareholder return of a selection of top 20 GLCs, has outperformed the benchmark index of Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) by a compounded annual growth rat e of 2.4 percent since the launch of the program (Business Times, 2009). Motivate by the above reason, part of this study attempts to examine whether or not government ownership lead to better company performance by focusing on the unique characteristics of government ownership in GLCs. The research is an attempt to extend the literature in this field and to provide new insight and understanding on the roles of state in emerging market considering the limited number of research in this area. Hence, the first part of this study attempts to answer the following primary research question: Is there any significant relationship between ownership structure of government- linked companies in Malaysia and firm value? 2.0 Theoretical Foundations of the Study There are number of different theoretical frameworks to explain and analyze corporate governance. Difference frameworks approaches corporate governance in different way, for example; the agency theory arises from the fields of finance and economics and the stakeholder theory arises from social-orientated perspective on corporate governance. According to Mallin (2010, p.14), the main theories that have affected the development of corporate governance are agency theory, transaction cost economics, stakeholder theory and stewardship theory. All these theory from difference disciplines have contributed to the development of theoretical aspects of corporate governance and its frameworks. However, the main theory that generally associated with ownership of the firm is agency theory that widely used in previous researches around the world. Theoretical and empirical researches on the relationship between ownership and firm value was originally motivated by the separation of ownership from control (Berle Means, 1932) and more recently, by agency theory (Jensen Meckling, 1976; Fama Jensen, 1983). In this theory, the basic assumption is that the goals and objectives of the principals (owners) and managers (agents) conflict. The central problem in corporate governance is to construct rules and incentive to effectively align the behavior of managers with the desires of principals (Hawley and Williams, 1996). The problem of agents being responsible to principals is that it compounds the agency costs identified by Jensen and Meckling (1976) with the basic assumption is that managers will act opportunistically to further their own interests before shareholders and one of the main reasons that the desired actions of principal and agent diverge is their different attitude towards risk (Shankman, 1999). Under the circumstances, in Malaysia where there is a high concentration of government ownership in firms (Tam and Tan, 2007) and high percentage of firms affiliated to government (La Porta et al., 1999), the government ownership actually has capacity to provide a control mechanisms to align management personal objectives with firm objectives and eventually increase the firm value. Parts of GLCs in Malaysia are privatized firms during Malaysian Privatization Policy in 1990s. Hence, the firms always related to political variables and in that stance the political view of GLCs conceive that the high level of government interferences resulted of inefficiency to the firm rather than facilitate the operation. 3.0 Literature Review and Research Gaps In Malaysia context, GLCs are defined as companies that have a primary commercial objective and in which the Malaysian government has a direct controlling stake via the GLICs. The GLICs are investment arms of the government that allocate government funds to the GLCs (Putrajaya Committee on GLC High Performance, 2004; Lau and Tong, 2008). Meanwhile, the controlling stake here refers to the governments ability (not just percentage ownership) to appoint board members, senior management and/or make major decisions. The Ministry of Finance (1993) classify GLCs as one in which the Malaysian government had an effective ownership interest of at least 20 percent of equity shares. Twenty percent voting rights in one particular company is considered to be sufficient for effective control and is employed in previous studies on ownership (La Porta et al.,1999; Faccio et.al., 2001 and Setia-Atmaja, 2009). Majority of GLCs under the federal government are under Khazanah Nasional Berhad, one of the most active GLICs in Malaysia  [2]  . Empirical studies on the relationship between government ownership and firm performance on the whole produced inconclusive results. Study by Ang and Ding (2005) on the relationship between ownership structure of Singaporean GLCs and performance found that GLCs exhibit higher valuations than those of the non-GLCs. In a related study, Ke and Issac (2007) report that governments shareholding is positively related to corporate performance of Chinas listed property companies, suggested that the economy sector is matter in the country. The findings however inconsistent with other empirical studies on the government ownership in China where in overall found the negative relationship between these two variables. For example, Sun and Tong (2003); McGuiness and Ferguson (2005); Gunasekarage, Xu and Wang (1999) and Li, Sun and Zou (2009) find that on average, the firms performance is negatively influenced by the governments ownership. Research in Malaysia on the relationship between government ownership and performance is lacking and also show mixed findings. Recently, Lau and Tong (2008) conducted a research on the impact of government intervention on firm value by employed 15 listed GLCs under Khazanah Nasional Berhad from year 2000 to 2005 (90 firm-year observations). They reveal a significant positive relationship between the degree of government ownership and firm value. However, this study has shortcomings as the selected data sets of 15 GLCs a year under Khazanah Nasional Berhad are too small and not robust enough to represent the overall GLCs performance. In fact, there are many more listed GLCs under the controlled of federal government GLICs  [3]  as well as GLCs under the state government jurisdiction. This research aims to address this issue by providing in-depth examinations and comprehensive study on all GLCs both at federal and state level. In a related study in Malaysia, Tam and Tan (2007) find that the performance of firms associated to government ownership is poor compared to others ownership types namely; individual-owned firms, foreign-owned firms and trust fund-owned firms. The study involved the top 150 listed companies on Bursa Malaysia Securities based on their ranking according to their market capitalization in 2000. The similar results also found in research by Ming and Gee (2008); and Chu and Cheah (2006) that show the negative relationship between government ownership and firms corporate performance. However, those studies also have limitations as they fail to properly identify the unique characteristics of GLCs ownership in Malaysia. In their studies, they group together all types of GLCs in one group in an attempt to find its relationship to performance without addressing issues of (i) the different type of GLCs controlled by federal government and GLCs controlled by states government and (ii) the differe nt type of shares in GLCs. With regard to the first issue, distinctions should be made between GLCs controlled by federal government (GLCFGs) and those controlled by state governments (GLCSGs) predominantly because they are difference in aspects of monitoring by federal government machineries and GLICs. GLCFGs subjected to strict supervision and monitoring not only by its GLICs but by ministries concerned under federal government. For example, Tenaga Nasional Berhad, a GLCFG is the largest electric utility company in Malaysia with one governments special share and majority of it ordinary shares owned by Khazanah Nasional Berhad . The Ministry of Finance responsible to the issues pertaining to the corporate matters of the company such as the approval entity for appointment of CEO/board of directors, their contract extension or termination, company performance etc. The selection of company chairman or CEO is carefully chosen based on their capability and suitability to head the organization. In the meantime, matters pertaining to policy such as approval for electric tariff increment and monitoring of company obeying to energy policy of Malaysia are under the responsibility of Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water as a guardian ministry. In addition, National Audit Department also conducting an annual auditing or special auditing to this company to be reported in Auditors General Report that eventually to be presented in Parliament. Furthermore, Public Accounts Committee, a committee under Parliament also have right to investigate whatever issues surrounding the company such as mismanagement or issues highlighted in Auditors General Report. With all these stringent monitoring systems, the GLCFGs are more cautious in their actions and eventually lead to good corporate performance in the long run. On the other hand, the extent of monitoring and supervision of GLCSGs by respective state governments is weaker. All issues pertaining GLCSGs are to be monitor and solve by State Economic Development Corporation (SEDC), a controlling agency cum main shareholder of GLCSGs. As contended in Agency Theory, lack of monitoring efforts will increase the agency costs that eventually lead to poor firm performance. Furthermore, GLICs at federal government have more systematically systems and incentives in monitoring and improve its GLCs performance compared to its counterpart in state government. For example is the establishment of a special program aims to transform GLCs to high performers entity called GLCs Transformation Program (GTP) that was launched in May 2004. Under this program, 20 larger GLCs (G-20) that controlled by different federal government GLICs has been selected to be transformed into high performance entity and become regional or global champions. Since the launch the programme, G-20 have made significant improvement especially on their financial aspects with operating cash flow for non-financial G-20 firms grew by 42% from RM14 billion in 2004 to RM20 billion in 2008. At the same time, aggregate earnings for 2008 also 53% higher compared to performance in 2004 and total shareholder returns has outperformed the benchmark index of Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) by a compo unded annual growth rate of 4.8% since the launch of the program (GTP Mid-Term Progress Review, 2009). With regard to this issue, based on above motivations the current study argue that the performance of listed GLCs controlled by federal government are better than it counterparts under the controlled of state government. On the second issue, previous studies with concerned to government ownership and performance have ignored the very important characteristic of GLCs in Malaysia which is GLCs with governments one special share or golden share. As a background, to stimulate economic growth and reduce Government financial burden, privatization policy was introduced in 1983 and a lot of government entities as well as hundreds of government projects had been implemented by private sector. From 1983 until 2003, 474 projects and 457 government entities had been privatized from 1983 until 2005 involving assets sale of RM1.54 billion and equity sales of RM4.94 billion (Economic Planning Unit, Prime Minister Department). Various type of privatization such as sale, leased, management contract and build-lease-transfer have been used. However, in some strategic entities such as ports, main utilities provider (e.g. Tenaga Nasional Berhad) and national carrier (Malaysian Airlines Systems Berhad), Malaysian governme nt directly retained one special share or well known as golden share on top of ordinary shares that possess by GLICs on behalf of the government. In this type of GLCs, the degree of Government interference is excessively. The golden share grant government not only right to control companys direction including the appointment/dismissal of Chairman, Board member, CEO and senior management but also make major decisions such as restructuring exercise, mergers and acquisition, assets disposal and even cancel whatever decision make by the firms for the interest of government  [5]  by the government in 2001 with cost closed to Ringgit Malaysia one billion (Jalleh M., 2005) was a good example of how this type of GLCs being protected by the government. Another prominent case was the bailout of national car company Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional or Proton by state-owned oil company, Petroliam Nasional Berhad (known as Petronas) during the AFC through cash injected by instruction of the gove rnment (Restall, 2000). Based on the arguments, the present study believed that, this type of firms should be treated separately from other normal GLCs to moderate the impact of government interventions. By group them together into one group of GLCs as carried out by previous studies in Malaysia is inappropriate and may have distorted their studies result. This research basically will address both of these issue by differentiate all GLCs in Malaysia into groups according to their controlling agency at federal or state level and also based on their type of shares to observe their impact to firms corporate performance. This study expected to form a distinctive contribution to the knowledge and provide new facts on some elements of the government ownership in emerging economies by providing in-depth analysis on the issue. To the best of my knowledge, no particular researcher so far focuses on examining government ownership and firm value by make use of these proposed approaches. In addition to that, others variable that related to government ownership such as the role of politicians, government official and ex- government officials as board members in GLCs and also the influence of degree of government ownership in GLCs will also be tested. 4.0 Hypotheses development This present study ultimately intended to test for any association between ownership structures of GLCs and firm value. A total of seven aspects have been identified and the hypotheses developed as to their probable effect and firm performance. 4.1 GLCs under federal and state government and firm performance There were not studies specifically relate this variable with performance in Malaysia, but study by Chen, Firth and Xu (2009) on Chinas listed company revealed that the performance of State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) affiliated to central government or in Malaysian context is federal government is outperformed their counterpart which are related to state and local government. They also argued that different form of government ownership have different motivation and objectives on investment and it lead to different performance outcomes for the companies they have invested in. According to Loh (2008), the Malaysias constitutional design clearly favors the federal over the state governments, both in term of legislative jurisdictions as well as in terms of revenue assignments. Based on this argument and motivations on the effectiveness of monitoring systems by federal government as discussed in 3.0, the proposed hypothesis is: H1: The impact of GLCs controlled by federal government on firm performance is stronger than GLCs controlled by states government 4.2 GLCs with governments special share and firm performance As explained in Section 3.0 above, governments golden share providing the government will unlimited power to control company directions and sometimes lead to misallocation of resources by the companies itself or by the government in order to assist them. The holding agency of this share is Ministry of Finance Incorporated, the entity under Ministry of Finance, Malaysia.  Although there is no empirical study so far that investigate the relationship between governments special share and performance in Malaysia, but study by Sun, Tong H.S, and Tong (2002) from Chinas privatization experience shows that too much government interference and control of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) was among the reasons of SOEs poor performance. Another argument is that, as of the perspective of minority shareholders, too much intervention from government will jeopardize the companys development and resulted poor performance in the long run. Hence, this type of company is not attractive for investo rs. Therefore, it is hypothesized that: H2: The impact of GLCs without governments golden share on firm performance is stronger than GLCs with governments golden share 4.3 Degree of government ownership and firm performance Like many others East Asian countries, Malaysias corporate sector also experiencing a high level of ownership concentration (Liew, 2007; La Porta et al., 1998). Gunasekarage et. al (2006) in their study on influence of the degree of state ownership on the performance of listed Chinese companies conclude that firms performance is significant at high levels of government ownership and a balanced ownership structure enhances the firm performance. Study by Ke and D.Isaac (2007) in China listed property companies from 2000 to 2002 also reveals that the government shareholding is positively related to corporate performance. In Malaysia context, Lau and Tong (2008) in their study of 15 listed GLCs in Bursa Malaysia for the period of 2000 to 2005 find a significant positive relationship between the degree of government ownership  [6]  and firm value. However, this study has limitation in term of selected data sets as laid out in Section 3.0. Therefore the variable will be re-testing with more comprehensive data sets in order to have more concrete and robust evidence on the influence of this variable to firm performance. In line with agency theory that concentrated ownership in more effective in reducing managerial agency cost, the proposed hypotheses are: H3: There is a significant relationship between governments ownership degree in GLCs and firm performance 4.4 Politicians as director and firm performance GLCs traditionally has some of its boards of directors that had affiliations with the ruling party especially those GLCs that previously under government control and later on involved in privatization. Johnson and Mitton (2003) noted that as of October 1999, 15.8% or 67 out of 424 firms listed on the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia Securities are politically connected to the ruling party. Empirical evidence on the association between politicians as director and its impact to firm value is inconclusive. Study by Xu, Zhu and Lin (2005) on state owned enterprises in China revealed that politicians have incentives to control the firms to achieve economically inefficient objectives for political purposes. In a related study, Shleifer and Vishny (1994) exposed that excess employment and wages are common in public enterprise that control by politicians. This unhealthy phenomenon could lead to wrong managerial investment decisions and result in misallocation of companys resources that eventuall y reduce the firm value. Boubakri, Cosset and Saffar (2008) investigate the association between political connections of newly privatized firms and the impact to performance. The study involved 245 privatized firms in 27 developing and 14 industrialized countries and the existence of political connections is based on whether the particular firms have a politician or an ex-politician on their boards. They find that the politically-connected firms exhibit a poor performance compared to their non-connected counterparts. The similar result also found in Fan et. al (2007). Meanwhile, Fisman (2001) in his study in Indonesia and Faccio (2006) in analysis of 47 countries find a significant relationship between these two variables. In the context of Malaysia where business and politics are inter-related (Gomez and Jomo, 1997) indicated that, participation of politicians in GLCs might have effects on firm value as they act as a link between the governments and companys management. Therefore, it is hypothesized that, H4: There is a significant relationship between politician as director and firm performance 4.5 Government officials as board member in GLCs and firm performance GLCs are created partly to implement government policy objectives especially those established as a result of privatization exercises in the early eighties. Hence, most of their board of directors are civil servants either still in-service or formal government officials that act as eyes and ear of government as well as communication bridge between the management and the government. Agrawal and Knoeber (2001) in their study found that the politically experience directors that comprises former government officials benefits the company they served and noted that they are more prevalent in firms compare to others outside directors. In a related study in Singapore that involved 25 GLCs and 204 non-GLCs for the period from 1990 to 2000, Ang and Ding (2006) found that GLCs exhibit higher valuations than those of the non-GLCs in the area of profitability, efficiency and firms financial performance. Like Malaysian GLCs, Singapore GLCs also comprises government officials in their board. At suc h, it is hypothesized that, H5: There is a significant relationship between in service government official as director and firm performance H6: There is a significant relationship between former government official as director and firm performance 5.0 Research design and methodology 5.1 Data and sample design The first model in this research is designed to examine the impact of ownership structure on corporate performance of all GLCs listed on the main board of Bursa Malaysia Securities for the period of five years (2004 until 2008). To ensure that the sample clearly represented the population intended for the research and to harmonious the selected sample to the GLCs definition, the sample selection is based on the following criteria: At any time, one specific GLICs either at federal or states government level must be the single largest shareholder with at least 20% share ownership in one particular company on Main Board of KLSE and; The financial and unit trust companies are excluded as they are governed by different set of rules and acts that could affect the end findings of this study. In addition, all required financial data for the study period are to be available in databases (Datastream or Thomson Research) and information on ownership and corporate governance structure from companies respective audited annual report. The study constructs an unbalanced panel data of all GLCs during the study period. This approach has the advantage of attrition biases in correlation (Hu and Izumida, 2008). The observations period of 2004 to 2008 is chosen mainly because the period was the phase of economic stability in Malaysia when the countrys economy and capitals market activities fully recovered after the Asian Financial Crisis. The performance chart in Figure 2 below reveals that prior to AFC, the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) in average has been trading in an upward trend. However, the AFC push down the KLCI to below 600 during the peak of the crisis. The post-crisis period has seen steady increase in the value of the KLCI even though until 2006 Bursa Malaysia Securities still has some 200 companies trading at more than 50 percent discount to their book values (James, 2006). Another reason for the chosen period is to evaluate the impact of GLCs Transformation Program that launch in May 2004 by Malaysian government to improve performance of GLCs. 5.2 Methodology 5.2.1 The proposed model The following base model will be used to test the hypotheses that have been defined in the previous section: PERFORM = ÃŽÂ ± + ÃŽÂ ²1FG_GLC + ÃŽÂ ²2SG_GLC + ÃŽÂ ²3GOLD + ÃŽÂ ²4GOV_OWN + ÃŽÂ ²5POL + ÃŽÂ ²6GO_BOD + ÃŽÂ ²7EX-GO_BOD + ÃŽÂ ²8LOG_SIZE + ÃŽÂ ²9LEV + ÃŽÂ ²10BOD_SIZE + ÃŽÂ ²11BOD_MEET + ÃŽÂ ²12BOD_IND + ÃŽÂ µi Where; PERFORM = the dependent variables: proxy by ROA, ROE and Tobins Q; Independent variables: FG_GLC = GLCs under federal government (equal to 1 if a firm is under federal government, and 0 otherwise) SG_GLC = GLCs under state government (equal to 1 if a firm is under states government, and 0 otherwise) GOLD = GLCs which government owned one golden share (equal to 1 if a firm has governments golden share, and 0 otherwise) GOV_OWN = captures the percentage of government ownership in a GLC POL = captures the percentage of politician on the board GO_BOD = captures the percentage of government official in-service on the board EX-GO_BOD = captures the percentage of ex-government official on the board Control variables: LOG_SIZE = natural log of total assets as proxy of firm size LEV = firm leverage (total liabilities to total assets) BOD_SIZE = number of board of directors during the year BOD_MEET = number of board of directors meetings during the year BOD_IND = captures the percentage of independent directors on the board ÃŽÂ µi = error term 5.2.2 Operationalization of variable selection 5.2.2.1 The dependent variable The dependent variable in this study is firm performance that comprises accounting and market based performance namely return on assets (ROA)  [8]  and Tobins Q. They are to be employed in this study to measure the impact of ownership structure on corporate performance. The accounting-based performance is the most common types of performance measurement in assessing business performance. In this approach, annual report, which comprises income statements, balance sheets and statements of changes in financial position are the source of information to analyze companys financial performance for one particular financial year. This approach is very important for companys stakeholders such as potential investors since the indicator can help them in making investment decisions. It also vital in helping the companys shareholders to assess how well the company performed in market place in order to make decisions on management and employees rewards, setting suitable plans to sustain the goo d momentum or even take drastic approaches for company to remain in business. The accounting-based performance also helps manager to effectively plan and control in order to achieve the objectives of the company. For example, according to Thompson Yeung (2001), return on equity as one of the accounting-based measurements can accommodate the effect of different accounting procedures across industries and can minimize the multi-linearity between companys specific characteristics such as size, age and profitability. Both ROA and ROE are the most common measurement used in analyzing financial performance of companies and have been used widely in previous studies (Vafeas,1999; Abdullah,2004; Bhagat Black, 2002; Rahman Haniffa 2006; Ang Ding, 2006; Bhagat Bolton; 2008 and Chu, 2009). Since accounting-based performance measures the past and current performance of the firm, m