Descriptions And Categories Of Hurricanes Environmental Sciences Essay

IntroductionHurricanes are tropical storms with air current velocities transcending 74mph. They typically occur over oceans and get down their formations from the equatorial parts of the universe. They are really complex conditions phenomena that are still hard to understand. They are besides called tropical cyclones and typhoons. in order for them to be classified in 1969 by Saffir, H and Simpson, B. developed a graduated table which is used to categorise them, this is refered to as the Saffir-Simpson graduated table. They range from least harmful to the most harmful ranging from class 1-5 ( Katsaros et al, 2002, ) . Hurricanes are normally accompanied by storm rushs. In order to understand the character of hurricanes the ambiance over oceans are continuously observed by assorted conditions orbiters in infinite, and other aerial detectors. Storm surges normally accompany hurricanes. Classs Cardinal Pressures in millibars Wind velocities Miles per hour Damage 1 & gt ; 980 74-95 Minimal 2 965-979 96-110 Moderate 3 945-964 111-130 Extensive 4 920-944 131-155 Extreme 5 & lt ; 920 & gt ; 155 Catastrophic Table 1: Showing Saffir-Simpson graduated table â€Å" Beginning: Adapted from katsaros et Al ( 2002 ) † Figure 1: Partss of a hurricane â€Å" Beginning: NASA online † The parts which are: the oculus, the wall and the rain sets.Remote Sensing of hurricanes.As a consequence of their really destructive nature, hurricanes are monitored by orbiters and aerial remote feeling engineerings. The type of detectors used scope from the optical, micro-cook and non merely by conditions orbiters but by several other orbiters. In the instance of exigencies other orbiters are besides used to supervise hurricanes. Table 2 below shows some of the orbiters and aerial detectors that are used in the instance of exigencies to supervise hurricanes. Optical and micro-cook orbiters are frequently really critical in supervising hurricanes as they tend to come on. Due to their big spacial declarations, they can be used to track the flight of hurricanes. These optical imagination are besides sometimes used in the absence of Radar techniques, to analyze the physical belongingss of hurricanes. These physical belongingss include: liquid H2O way, thermodynamic stage of atoms and their approximative size ( Kokhanovsky & A ; Hoyningen-Huene, 2004 ) In order to supervise hurricanes as they progress, in order for hurricanes to be understood in the context of its character and physical belongingss, microwave orbiters provide seasonably atmospheric coverage as they can perforate clouds and due to their long wavelengths and work irrespective of twenty-four hours or dark. ( Navalgund et al, 2007 ) . Scatterometers, Man-made Aperture Radar and micro-cook radiometers are some of the instruments uses in microwave remote feeling. While Scatterrometers and Man-made Aperture Radar are active detectors breathing their ain energy, Microwave Radiometers merely step reflected energy transmitted to it as it is a inactive detector. Scatterometers are used to mensurate surface air current velocities and way. They measure ocean surface raggedness and are really sensitive instruments. If the air current velocity is non Of all the declarations, a high temporal declaration is the most of import in tracking the way of a hurricane. This is non to state that radiometric, spectral and spacial declarations are non of import. This is necessary in order to adequately foretell the way of the hurricane and to efficaciously supervise its advancement to state if its strength is reduced or increased. Besides, information and information about hurricanes can easy go out-of-date as as the hurricane changes its class. Timely airing of informations from a hurricane is necessary in order for the terminal usage which might be a catastrophe monitoring bureau to accurately circulate information to the general populace. Besides, a high spectral declaration is needed in order to easy separate between sets, to be able to properly analyse informations presented. Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer ( MODIS ) has really high spectral declaration of 32 sets when compared with Landsat Thematic plotter which has 7 sets ( Womble et al 2006 ) . In the trailing of the hurricane, a really larger spectral declaration will find the peculiarity between sets and the ability to spot information. Determining the perpendicular construction of the ambiance requires a high spectral declaration infrared observations. ( Schmit et al 2009 ) . Synergy or a combination of the assorted distant feeling engineerings frequently produce the best information needed to understand hurricanes. In a study carried by MCEER in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, it was found that earlier forcasts about the class of the storm was incorrect. By uniting informations from assorted assorted orbiters, the true magniturde of the hurricane was determined ( Womble et al 2006 ) . Future tendencies in hurricane forcasting will concentrate on bettering spectral declaration in order to be able to easy demonstrated engineering such as the advanced IR sounder engineering will enable â€Å" A geostationary advanced IR sounder would supply breakthrough measurings on the clip development of horizontal and perpendicular H2O vapour and temperature constructions. These measurings would be an unprecedented beginning of information on the dynamic and thermodynamic atmospheric Fieldss, an of import benefit to nowcasting and numerical conditions anticipation † ( Schmit et al 2009 ; 2274 ) A high radiometric declaration on the other manus will take to greater peculiarity in images. The higher the spectral declaration of the image, the more characteristics can be distinguished. The areal extent covered when tracking a hurricane should non be so much in order for the Instantaneous field of position non to be excessively much. In accessing jeopardies after the hurricane, a spacial declaration is needed. As u can non hold it all, trade offs are made and determinations as to instruments which can integrate all of these features possibly will give better apprehension of hurricanes.Table 2: Distant feeling informations used in hurricane monitoring. â€Å" Beginning: Womble et Al ( 2006 ) † REMOTE SENSING OF HURRICANES The first conditions orbiters which were launched provided planetary coverage of conditions events and due to their low spacial declarations. They besides had high temporal declarations supplying seasonably updates every bit frequently as every 30mins. These orbiters include APPROPRIATENESS OF REMOTE SENSING TECHNOLOGY TO SOCIO ECONOMIC SITUATION The socio-economic stableness attained by the western universe has enabled her to accomplish and be able to develop and afford really expensive engineering such as distant detection. The placing of orbiters in infinite whether Geostationary or polar orbiting and the usage of other signifiers of airborne ( aeroplanes, balloons etc ) Remote Sensing Technology, the benefits derivable from timely warning of catastrophes such as hurricanes can non be of all time emphasized ( Murthi & A ; Madhusudan 2008 ) . Without this engineering natural happenings such as hurricanes can non be predicted. Remote feeling engineering by enabling early sensing of natural catastrophes and triping off widespread warning enables catastrophe warning and catastrophe direction proparations to be carried out. Disaster direction organic structures such as FERMA, seashore guard both of the united provinces are better equipped to work decently and can assist salvage 100s of 1000s of lives and harm to belongings can besides be reduced. â€Å" Satellite observations of land, oceans, atmosphere, and specifically, during natural and human-induced jeopardies have become important for protecting the planetary environment, cut downing catastrophe losingss, and accomplishing sustainable development † ( Navagundi et al 2007: 1747 ) . As a consequence of timely warning of impending catastrophes, concerns are given early warnings and can shut on clip, and belongingss which can be moved out of injuries manner were moved. In 1992, hurricane Andrew destroyed about 25,524 places and damaged another 101,241 taking to estimated amendss of $ 25billion. Besides, in 2005 hurricanes Denis, Katrina, Rita and Wilma caused huge amendss amounting to $ 32.83 billion ( Otero et al 2009 ) . IMPORTANCE OF REAL TIME REMOTE SENSING TECHNOLOGY In supervising hurricanes as they grow and advancement, existent clip information or information is required as information can easy go out-of-date. Timely data entree and airing is really of import peculiarly in hurricanes. Although satellite engineering provides information about hurricanes they do non demo plenty item to be able to really accurately predict their tends or proctor hurricanes. NASA normally flies aircraft into the oculus of the hurricane to be able to acquire more item about the hurricanes. In cases when it is excessively unsafe to wing, aircrafts that do non necessitate worlds are flown into the hurricanes to be able to acquire more inside informations and timely updates. Hurricane Katrina presented new frontiers for research as it showed oversights in satellite anticipations. Initial premises based on the safir-simpson graduated table declared hurricane Katrina as a class 4 storm. Latter ratings utilizing a synergism of low declaration orbiters, moderate declaration orbiters, high declaration orbiters and high declaration aerial imagination showed that it was a class 3 storm and that the sum of devastation that accompanied it was a consequence of the storm rush which was still category 5 ( Womble et at 2006 ) . Detailss of the orbiters and their declarations is given below in table 2. Had the exact strength of the storm rush been known before Katrina hit, there would hold been a more equal readying and exigency response. REFEERENCES Dabas, A. ( 2010 ) Detecting the Atmospheric air current from infinite. Comptes Rendus Geosciences. Article in imperativeness. Available from hypertext transfer protocol: //www.sciencedirect.com [ last accessed 02 January 2010 ] Harding, L.W. , Miller, W.D. , Swift, R.N. & A ; Wright, C.W. ( 2003 ) Aircraft Remote Sensing. Encyclopaedia of Ocean Sciences. Pp.113-122. hypertext transfer protocol: //www.sciencedirect.com [ last accessed 02 January 2010 ] Katsaros, K.B. Vachon, P.W. Liu, W.T. & A ; Black, P.G ( 2002 ) Microwave Remote Sensing of Tropical Cyclones from Space. Journal of Oceanography [ Internet ] January 58 ( 1 ) , pp.137-151 Available from & lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.springerlink.com & gt ; [ last accessed 2 January 2010 ] Kokhanovsky, A.A. & A ; Hoyiningen-Huene, W.V. ( 2004 ) Optical belongingss of a hurricane. Atmospheric Research. [ Internet ] January-March 69 ( 3-4 ) pp.165-183 Available from hypertext transfer protocol: //www.sciencedirect.com [ last accessed 02 January 2010 ] Levinson, D. H. , Vickery, P.J. & A ; Resio, D.T. ( 2008 ) A reappraisal of the climatological features of landfalling Gulf hurricanes for air current, moving ridge, and billow hazard appraisal. Ocean Engineering. Article in imperativeness. Murthi, R.S. & A ; Madhusudan, H.N. ( 2008 ) Strategic considerations in Indian infinite programme-Towards maximising socio-economic benefits. Acta Astronuatica. [ Internet ] July-August 63 ( 1-4 ) pp.503-508 Available from hypertext transfer protocol: //www.sciencedirect.com [ last accessed 02 January 2010 ] Navalgundi, R.R. Jayaraman, V. & A ; Roy, P.S. ( 2007 ) Remote Feeling Applications: An Overview. Current Science [ Internet ] December 93 ( 12 ) , pp.1747-1766 Available from hypertext transfer protocol: //www.ias.ac.in/currsci/dec252007/1747.pdf [ last accessed 02 January 2010 ] Otero, C.E. , Velazquez, A. , Kostanic, I. , Subramanian, C. , Pinelli, J. & A ; Buist, L. ( 2009 ) Real-time Monitoring of Hurricane Winds utilizing Wireless and Sensor Technology. JOURNAL OF COMPUTERS. [ Internet ] December 4 ( 12 ) pp.1275-1285 Available from hypertext transfer protocol: //www.academypublisher.com/ojs/index.php/jcp/article/viewFile/041212751285/1332 [ last accessed 02 January 2010 ] Schmit T.J. Li, J. Ackerman, S.A. & A ; Gurka, J.J. ( 2009 ) High-Spectral- and High-Temporal-Resolution Infrared Measurements from Geostationary Orbit. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology. [ Internet ] November, volume 26 pp.2273-2292 Available from hypertext transfer protocol: //ams.allenpress.com/archive/1520-0426/26/11/pdf/i1520-0426-26-11-2273.pdf [ last accessed 02 January 2010 ] Womble, J.A. Ghosh, S. Adams, B.J. & A ; Friedland, C.J. ( 2006 ) Advanced Damage Detection for Hurricane Katrina: Integrating Remote Sensing and VIEWSa„? Field Reconnaissance. MCEER Special Report Series [ Internet ] March, Volume 2, pp hypertext transfer protocol: //mceer.buffalo.edu/publications/Katrina/06SP02-web.pdf [ last accessed 02 January 2010 ] NASA ( 2004 ) How strong is that Hurricane. Available from hypertext transfer protocol: //www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k4/home/F_How_Strong_Is_That_Hurricane.html [ last accessed 02 January 2010 ]

Freshwater Biome Essay

The Freshwater Biome By Lauren Finnis The freshwater biome is a complex biome that can be found all over the world. There are two major types of freshwater biomes. The first type is lotic or running which include rivers and streams. Lentic or standing is the second type; those include lakes and ponds. Since this biome is found worldwide, the species that reside in it can vary extensively, but usually it contains several species of fish, plants, and insects. Predation is a way of life in the freshwater biome. It is the main way food and energy are obtained by most of the organisms. The plankton, algae, and weeds that produce their own food through photosynthesis are eaten by the smaller fish like the minnows. Then larger fish like bass, trout, and pike eat these smaller fish. Finally birds, large mammals, and humans catch the large fish. In the freshwater biome, there are several examples of symbiosis. The relationship between the freshwater sponge and spongillafly is an example of paratism. The spongillafly lays its eggs on the sponge, and then they hatch and feed off the sponge. Another parasite is the flatworm. It resides in organisms such as the snail and can infect them with deadly diseases. There are also examples of commensalism in this biome. First is the relationship between small fish and the pond weeds; the fish hide between these weeds from larger fish. Another relationship of this type is the one between oysters and the mangrove trees. The oyster anchor and protect themselves with the roots of the tree. Finally there are also examples of mutaulistic relationships. For example some small fish enter clean the mouths of larger fish, and in exchange, they may eat whatever they clean out. There are several limiting factors in the freshwater biome. One of the most important is the availability of sunlight. In areas with little sunlight, photosynthesis can not occur; therefore, most plants can not live. Since  plants are the base of the food chain the whole ecosystem falls apart. Salinity is also a limiting factor. In freshwater areas, there must be a salinity of .05% or less for most organisms to survive. Humans are actually limiting factors also. We destroy and pollute habitats and eat the animals and plants in the biome. Population density in the freshwater biome varies greatly. In rivers or streams, density is usually lower in the faster moving biomes because organisms must fight the current. In lakes and ponds, the topmost areas usually are more dense because there is an ample supply of light for photosynthesis. The highest densities will probably be found in the more temperate areas that organisms can adapt to more easily. The carrying capacity of the freshwater biome depends on the size, location, and availability off light. Biotic potentials in the biome are most likely extremely large. This is because the main organisms are fish, which lay eggs in numerous amounts. Of course the carry and the biotic potential are rarely met because there are natural enemies and predator. There are also billions of one of the most deadly predator to the biome, humans.

Musical Performance

The history of music predates the written word and is tied to the development of each unique human culture. Music has been used as meditational music since the very dawn of civilization, because it balances the human organism through its rhythmic pattern of tones, which are generated in a harmonic relationship with each other. Mantras originated in the Vedic religion of India, later becoming an essential part of the Hindu tradition and a customary practice within Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism. Indian music and mantras bring us back in to the physical world every day.   Most of the indian songs were written by   saints for devotion and meditation. This music was created in order to give people better feelings. Not long ago I visited the concert of a not very famous group â€Å"Atmosphere†. It consisted of two women who chanted mantras and three men who played some instruments. Those instruments included pakhawaj , violin, flute. The most exotic of those instruments were pakhawaj and flute. Pakhawaj   is a long bodied wooden drum with both ends covered in skin. Played horizontally with the fingers and palms of both hands, the right hand surface is tuned to the pitch required and the left hand surface provides the base. Flute, carved from bamboo, is made in every possible size. It is usually played in a vertical position. The combination of the sounds made by those instruments was excellent. The music they played was composed by the members of those group. They took the text of a famous Indian mantras and   composed   a modern joyful music for chanting it. Actually, when they were singing and playing they were meditating themselves. Moreover, a lot of people sitting in the hall were meditating too. While singing the women were dancing. There were no special costumes, except an embroidered Indian shirts. Of course they were influenced by some chanters of mantras, but intheir group they expressed their individualities. To tell the truth, I liked the style of their performance greatly. I think it was a good idea to combine mantras with a modern music. References â€Å"Atmosphere: Music Group†. (2006). Retrieved January 28, 2007, from http://www.answers.com/topic/atmosphere-music-group   

Spartans Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Spartans - Essay Example In his career he has published over 65 articles, with 12 forthcoming articles and chapters such as 'Sparta' in The Classical Tradition (Harvard University Press). In 2004, Professor Cartledge was appointed an Honorary Citizen of Sparta. The Spartans is a convincing narrative that explores the culture and civilization of the most famous "warrior people": the Spartans of ancient Greece, by the world's leading specialist in the field. Sparta has often been described as the original Utopia--a remarkably evolved society whose warrior heroes were forbidden any other trade, profession, or business. As a people, the Spartans were the living exemplars of such core values as duty, discipline, the nobility of arms in a cause worth dying for, sacrificing the individual for the greater good of the community (illustrated by their role in the battle of Thermopylae), and the triumph of will over seemingly insuperable obstacles--qualities that today are frequently believed to signify the ultimate heroism. Paul Cartledge is the distinguished scholar and historian who have long been seen as the leading international authority on ancient Sparta. He traces the evolution of Spartan society--the culture and the people, as well as the tre mendous influence they had on their world and even ours. He details throughout the narrative the lives of such illustrious and myth-making figures as Lycurgus, King Leonidas, Helen of Troy (and Sparta), and Lysander, and explains how the Spartans, although they placed a high value on masculine ideals, nevertheless allowed women an unusually dominant and powerful role--unlike Athenian culture with which the Spartans are so often compared. In resurrecting the ancient culture and society of the Spartans, Cartledge delves deep into ancient texts and archeological sources and complements his text with illustrations that depict original Spartan artifacts and drawings, as well as examples of representational paintings from the Renaissance onwards. The Spartans built a warrior culture in ancient Greece unsurpassed for its courage and military prowess. Eminent historian Cartledge (Spartan Reflections) provides a remarkable chronicle of Sparta's rise and fall, from its likely origins around 1100 B.C. to the height of its fame and glory in the battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C. and its fall in the fourth century B.C. The Spartans built their society through conquest and subjugation, ruling over their subject peoples with an iron hand and putting down revolts with devastating might. Between 490 and 479, Sparta joined Athens in fighting the Persians in three key wars-Thermopylae, Plataea and Mycale-that contributed to the demise of Persian power and the rise of Hellenistic power on the Mediterranean. Cartledge punctuates his absorbing tale with brief, engaging biographies of the city-state's kings from Lycurgus, the earliest Spartan leader, who brought constitutional law to the city, to Leonidas, who led the Spartans at Thermopylae. According to

SUSTAINABLITY IN THE DESIGNED ENVIRONMENT Assignment

SUSTAINABLITY IN THE DESIGNED ENVIRONMENT - Assignment Example This has lead to the rising demand and need for carbon footprint calculations. There are several approaches that have been proposed to provide estimates ranging from simple online calculators to sophisticated life cycle analysis. Despite these approaches, a definite definition for carbon footprint has not been established. According to Wackernagel (1996), carbon footprint is generally termed as the quantity of gaseous amount that contribute towards global warming. The sources of carbon could be human production and consumption activities. The ISA Research Report (p. 4) defines carbon footprint as a measure of elusive total amount of carbon dioxide emissions directly or indirectly caused by an activity in its life stages. These activities include individual activities, populations, government, companies, organizations, processes, industries, among others. According to this definition, carbon footprint is restricted from area-based indicator. The total amount of carbon is measured in mass units such as kilograms and tons. This form of measurement does not give room to area unit hence there is no conversion to area unit such as ha, m ², and km ². Conversion into land area must be based on various assumptions and this increases uncertainties and errors related to particular footprint estimates. This is the main reason why accountants prefer to use appropriate units of measurement. The concept of carbon footprint should be all-encompassing and issue relative causes that lead to the rise of carbon emissions. Accurate measurement of carbon footprint ripples importance and precariousness in carbon offsetting. When considering indirect quantities of carbon emissions, the methodologies applied should eradicate undercounting and double counting of emissions. This substantiates the inclusion of the word ‘exclusive’ in the definition for carbon footprint. Life-cycle

Clinical biochemistry and advanced assessment in nutrition Assignment

Clinical biochemistry and advanced assessment in nutrition - Assignment Example Structurally and functionally, pyruvate dehydrogenase complex is closely related to oxoglutarate dehydrogenase. On the other hand, branched –chain ketoacid dehydrogenease complex (BCKDC) is another critically significant enzyme complex that plays a critical role in the normal breakwdown of amino acids by catalyzing the oxidative decarboxylation of the branched short chain alpha ketoacids. In terms of their functionality, one of the most important similarities between the two enzymes is that just like the Pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, (BCKDC) is also an intermitochondiarial enzyme complex that is primarily regulated by covalent modification. Additionally, much like Pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC), the branched –chain ketoacid dehydrogenease complex (BCKDC) is also comprised of the three components namely the oxoglutarate dehydrogenase, dihydrolipolyl succinytransferase and dihydrolipoyl dehydrogenase. With regard to the differences between the two enzyme complexes , the deficiency of the Pyruvate dehydrogenase complex is normally caused by mutations in any of the cofactors or enzymes and the main clinical finding is usually lactic acidosis. However, unlike PDC, branched –chain ketoacid dehydrogenease complex is primarily concerned with the catabolism of branched amino acids such as valine, luecine and isoleucine. As a result, the deficiency of branched –chain ketoacid dehydrogenease complex is normally associated with the development of maple syrup urine disease as well as a number of other related medical problems. Accumulation for branched chain keto-acids is widely believed to be one of the potential causes of neurological features of MSUD through the induction of oxidative stress in the glioma cells. Lastly, when there is insufficient activity of Pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, the organic acids that are usually elevated is primarily lactic acid while the insufficient activity of branched –chain ketoacid dehydrogeneas e complex normally result in the elevation of three organic acids namely: 2-oxoisocaproic acid derived from leucine, 2-oxoisovaleric acid derived from valine and 2-oxo-3-methylvaleric acid derived from isoleucine. How Peroxisomes are activated (PPAR system Fatty acid oxidation is an important metabolic pathway that normally results in the mitochondrial breakdown of long chain acyl-CoA to acetyl-CoA. The many steps involved in the process are generally regulated by PPARs at the transcriptional level. Peroxizomes usually work by proliferating or decreasing in response to lipids, toxicants, hormones or drugs that bind to bind to PPAR. On the other hand, the activation of peroxizomes is achieved when the PPAR suppress the gene transcription through small additions of dietary PUEFAs. Fig 1: Oxidation of fatty acids pathway How does biotin relate to multiple carboxylase deficiency (MCD)? What are the symptoms and organic acid markers of biotin deficiency? Biotin is an important B-complex vitamin that is primarily obtained from food, but is also synthesized by certain microorganisms such as bifidobacteria in the human gut. Biotin is closely relate with multiple carboxylase deficiency (MCD) in that the heritable disorders of biotin metabolism usually lead to MCD condition that is characterized by deficiency in the activities of various diotin

The militarization of our law enforcement agencies in America Research Paper

The militarization of our law enforcement agencies in America - Research Paper Example Owing to the level of criminals sophistication, militarization offers police protective equipment like helmet so that they are equally safe guarded from possible attack. This incude use of armored vests,sophisticated machines guns and trucks fitted with communication gadgets The militarized police must reconcile between keeping the civilians safe while they are on raid. At the same time they must uphold their own safety from possible return gun fire from the criminals. Abiliy to undertake these two responsibilities helps in gaugig the preparedness from the militarization process. The interest of the civiliam must be prioritized through sound preparation mechanisms while carrying out raids.accountability in the event that police raids aount to loss pof life of civilian through negligence or abuse of power is also a concern. Militarization of police is geared towards improving the security of the citizens and ensuring sustained functionality of the government to defend its subjects. This calls for shared responsibility between members of the public and government. Militarization of law enforcement agencies is a positive step towards addressing the surging criminal sophistications. The idea should be given more attention and offered more support by the society at

Unit 3 Case Mangement Seminar Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Unit 3 Case Mangement Seminar - Research Paper Example In my case, I use my cultural practices to relate with my customers. A proper dress code is the first impression that attracts customers to wards my business. When interacting with my customers, I often uses motivational languages thus I am able to encourage customers to buy products that are by giving out reasonable discounts. Culture biasness is common in many business organizations. These practices create drift between the rich, those who live in the middle class society and the poor. The cultural practice of a business determines the type of customer expectations. Some business tend to trade on goods and services that are only affordable to people of high social classes, while others can accommodate both the rich and model class social groups. The cultural practices are universal thus free from culture bias. Business organizations often advance easily if they adapt a culture that is free from bias. Culture bias discourages clients from investing as well as trading withy certain business organizations. Human service workers discourage clients from trading if they engage in cultures that accommodate business. Non-verbal communications are used to define a business culture. They are the daily business activities that are used to draw

The Economic development of Russia 1929-1945 Essay

The Economic development of Russia 1929-1945 - Essay Example 1929-1945 was possibly the greatest transformative period of time in Soviet history; partly due to the occurrence of the Second World War lasting from 1939-1945 and partly due to its leadership. During this period, Stalin combined his hold on power and was allowed to rule with liberty, establishing his â€Å"revolution from above† on the Soviet people1. His rule extended from 1922-1952 and was therefore responsible for majority of the economic transformation at the time. He substituted the New Economic Policy (NEP) instituted by his predecessor with a highly centralised planned (command) economy. This launched a period of collectivization and industrialization that caused rapid transformation of the USSR into an industrial power from an agrarian society. The initial disruption in agriculture unsettled food production and contributed to the disastrous Soviet famine of 1932–1933, which in Ukraine was known as the Holodomor2. Afterwards, in a period that continued from 193 6 to 1939, Stalin established a movement against suspected enemies within his administration - the Great Purge – during which hundreds of thousands were executed. In August 1939, a non-aggression pact was signed by Stalin and Nazi Germany that distributed their power and territory within Eastern Europe, causing the invasion of Poland later in September of that year. Germany later dishonoured the agreement and in June 1941 initiated a substantial invasion of the Soviet Union. In spite of numerous territorial and human losses, Soviet forces succeeded in halting the Nazi incursion following the decisive Battles of Stalingrad and Moscow3. After overwhelming the Germans on the Eastern Front, Berlin was captured in May 1945 by the Red Army, effectively ending the Second World War for the Allies in Europe. Consequently the Soviet Union arose as one of two acknowledged world super-powers, the United States being the other4. This aim of this paper is to analyse the events that occurred

The Lord of the Rings Essay Example for Free

The Lord of the Rings Essay To begin describing my unlikely hero’s we first have to ask ourselves what makes a hero. Is it always a big, strong alpha male with a square jaw and cocky attitude? I hardly think so. I feel that a hero is someone who puts others needs in front of their own to complete whatever task is set before them, even though they may have to give their life in the process, they keep going. Once in a while you come across a story where the hero not only does not fit into the stereotypical hero status but is as far away from what you expect as you can get. The unlikely hero†¦ The unlikely hero is a hero who never wanted to be a hero. The unlikely hero proves that anyone can make it as a hero. This diamond in the rough disguises his true potential until tough times call for his aid. He is greatly unsure of himself and often unsure on what to do. He just knows that something has to be done. The odds are usually greatly in favor of the villains and there is much to overcome, both mentally and psychically. My unlikely heroes are Frodo from the Lord of the Rings (Tolkien) and Pug from the Riftwar Saga. Both of these unlikely heroes must overcome great odds to complete quests that are thrust upon them. One, a small hobbit with little knowledge of the world outside of his home in the Shire, the other, a small orphan boy from the rustic town of castle Crydee. Neither is aware of the dangers that await them or that their lives are about to change forever. Frodo Baggins is a hobbit. Hobbits are short and stocky and do not go out very often. Life outside the Shire does not concern them too much and they are very content on staying on their own land doing what pleases them. Frodo lives with his uncle Bilbo in his hobbit hole Bags End, a house carved into the side of a hill. Frodo is usually quiet and reserved and does not like to cause a scene. (Tolkien) While living with his uncle Bilbo, Frodo is left in the Shire as heir to Bags End and all of the possessions. This included a magic ring. All Bilbo knew about the ring is that it turned the wearer invisible; the true nature of the ring had become lost to history. After keeping the ring hidden for 17 years the wizard Gandalf came to Frodo to tell him that it is The One Ring of the Dark Lord Sauron and that his agents are searching for it. Gandalf informs Fordo he must take the ring to Rivendell, home of the house of Elrond, an elf lord in order to keep it out of the hands of the Nazgul, Sauron’s agents. (Tolkien) At the start of his journey Frodo is joined by his friend and gardener Samwise Gamgee, and his cousins Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took. They leave the shire for Rivendell and almost instantly they are tracked by the Nazgul, barely escaping. They make it to an inn in the town of Bree where they are joined by Aragorn who helps them escape their next attack and guide them to Rivendell. Once in Rivendell there is a meeting on what to do about the ring. There are representatives from each race at the meeting. They come to the conclusion that the ring is to be destroyed but an argument ensues on who will take possession of it to destroy it. Then Frodo volunteers for the task and everyone else takes an oath to protect him on his journey to Mordor to destroy the ring in the fires of Mount Doom. (Tolkien) There are many things that Frodo must overcome in order to complete his task. The ring drives the humans around it mad and they will eventually try to kill Frodo for it. Frodo is also hunted at every turn by Orcs and every other being that Sauron has under his control. Frodo eventually has to leave all of his companions behind with the exception of Sam in order to protect the ring from those that wish to use the rings power. Frodo and Sam made their way through Emyn Muil, followed by the creature Gollum. As they finally reached Mount Doom, Gollum reappeared and attacked Frodo, who beat him back. He continued on while Sam fought with Gollum. Having finally reached the Sammath Naur, or Crack of Doom, however, Frodo lost the will to destroy the Ring, and instead put it on, claiming it for himself. Gollum got past Sam and attacked the invisible Frodo, biting off his finger, and finally regained his precious. As he danced around in elation, Gollum lost his balance and fell with the Ring into the lava. The Ring was thus destroyed, Saurons power lost and his realm ended. Frodo and Sam were rescued by Great Eagles as Mount Doom erupted. (Tolkien) Pug is the child of unknown parents, an orphan abandoned at a monastery near Crydee, a town on the north-west coast of the Kingdom of the Isles. As a boy, he is sent to Castle Crydee and is adopted by Megar, the castle keeps cook. He grows up there, becoming the closest friend of Megars son, Tomas, becoming almost a brother to him. While gathering shellfish at age 13, Pug is caught in a storm, his ankle is sprained, and he is charged by a wild boar. He is saved by a franklin named Meecham, who is in the service of the court Magician Kulgan. (Fiest) Kulgan discovers Pugs talent for magic and takes him as his apprentice on Choosing Day. Under Kulgans tutelage, Pug makes satisfactory progress in the theory of magic, but finds himself unable to cast spells in the traditional way. Pug appears to suffer some form of mental block. Kulgan decides that as a foil to Pugs very logical mind, Pug is to be taught equestrian skills. This leads to Pug being selected to accompany Princess Carline (daughter of the Duke of Crydee) into the countryside on a ride. During the course of this ride, they are attacked by two trolls; Pug manages to defend the princess demonstrating skill first with a sling and then with his unexpected success in casting a spell, his first of any power. The spell causes the trolls excruciating pain and they drown. Kulgan voices to Pug that this is a skill unheard of in Midkemian magic. Casting this particular spell without a device to focus the power was impossible. Casting the spell in the manner in which Pug did should have caused great pain to himself instead of the Trolls. Upon return to Crydee, Pug earns the gratitude of the Duke and the affection of Carline, Duke Borrics beautiful, but willful, daughter. As a reward for this feat, Pug is made a squire and was granted land, to be held by the crown until the age of majority. Then, mysteriously, the Tsurani invade Crydee. A bitter nine year war ensues at the start of which, Pug is captured while helping Kulgan get safely away from a skirmish and taken to Kelewan, kept at first as a swamp slave, cutting timber and pulp for the Tsurani. He is liberated from the swamps by Clan of Tsurani nobles, and instructed to tutor their sons in the ways of the Kingdom. Pug is respected but never allowed to forget that he is nothing but a slave. During this time Pug meets and falls for Katala, a slave girl of great beauty and wit, and Laurie, a former Troubador from the Kingdom, most recently a friend and confidant of Pug. However, one day Pugs former training is recognized by a Tsurani Great One. Pug is trained as a Greater Path Magician, and is remarkable in many ways. His outworld status (as well as his former status as slave, enemy and lesser path apprentice) makes him something of a celebrity. Pug is renamed Milamber. Fiest) Pug becomes instrumental in bringing the Riftwar to an end, by destroying the planetary rift between Kelewan and Midkemia, in an effort to stop the return of the enemy to Midkemia. When the Riftwar ends, Pug is rewarded with the title to the island of Stardock, previously gifted to him by Duke Borric for saving his daughter. It is also revealed that after he had been considered dead, the Duke gave him a name in memorial, adopting him into the ConDoin family, effectively making him an adopted member of the royal family. Fiest) Midkemia is very similar to Earth in climate, and its flora and fauna. It has three continents: Triagia, Novindus and Winet. It has two oceans, though there are various names for them depending on the continent or nation. The Endless Sea is west of Triagia and is east of Novindus where it is called the Blue Sea. The Sea of Tears is east of Triagia and west of Novindus where it is called the Green Sea. (Fiest) Tolkien prepared several maps of Middle-earth and the regions of Middle-earth in which his stories took place. Some were published in his lifetime, though some of the earliest maps were not published until after his death. The main maps were those published in The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, and Unfinished Tales. Most of the events of the First Age took place in the subcontinent Beleriand, which was later engulfed by the ocean at the end of the First Age; the Blue Mountains at the right edge of the map of Beleriand are the same Blue Mountains that appear on the extreme left of the map of Middle-earth described in the Second and Third Ages. Tolkiens map of Middle-earth, however, shows only a small part of the world; most of the vast lands of Rhun and Harad are not shown on the map, and there are also other continents. (Tolkien) The two unlikely heroes are a lot alike as well as being very different. Pug has many powers he can use later on in the books to help him do what needs to be done. Frodo just has his will and the help of Sam. No matter how hard things became, they both pressed on in order to save their world.

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