How privatization shaped the corporate governance of Russia and Ukraine in comparison with South Korean and Japanese experiences

Abstract

This paper aspires to motion an explicative correlation between similar patterns of privatizations and their effects on corporate governance and its performance. It aims to define historical and economic aspects of privatization in Japan, Korea, Russia and Ukraine; by comparing the initial background and reasons for process occurrence. The rationale behind selecting these specific countries lies within the shared history along with strong economic ties between countries in two by two formats that is Japan and Korea in contrast with Russia and Ukraine. The entire work fluctuates around two waves of privatization and three conjectures that target to enlighten both direct and indirect effects on corporate governance. The paper is divided into three fundamental parts that cover: i) privatization and ownership structure; ii) privatization and corporate financial performance and iii) discussions of presumed conjectures. The findings resemble the presumed conjunctures that privatization actually shaped higher ownership concentration that in result led to diverging corporate financial performance with positive outcomes in two of the aforementioned country cases and negative outcomes in others. Therefore, the difference might be explained by other factors within the institutional environment, policies for corporate governance systems and cultural and societal endowments present in the countries.