Corporate governance, board practices and performance of shipping firms in Bangladesh

This study attempts to take a close look on corporate governance, board practices and performanceof shipping firms in Bangladesh. The study has conducted a survey on 24- shipping firms operated inBangladesh and collected perceptional data from top tier executives and factual data from firms balancesheet and income statement. The results of descriptive statistics show that most of the firms’ managers arenot aware about the corporate governance and board practices of the firm. Moreover, there is significantlack of transparency in the board practices documented among the shipping firms in this study. The resultsof regression analysis confirm that board ownership, board leadership, board size, and firm size havesignificant impact on firm performance. Moreover, factual analysis results show that board leadershiphas significant impact on firm performance. However, this study also confirmed that board compositionhas no significant impact on firm performance in the context of Bangladeshi shipping firms. Thus, this isof the essence to spotlight on corporate governance policies in the shipping firms to make legal aspectsof board practices to escalate the growth of shipping industry in Bangladesh.