For some hard-bitten corporate executives and the more cynical investors, the concept of corporate governance is doubtless too nebulous and idealistic to bother with. But for many it has acquired sufficient substance to serve as Euromoney surveyed companies contained in one or more of the following categories as of June 15 2001:
1) the MSCI Emerging Markets Index
2) the biggest 650 companies, by market capitalization in US dollars, in the following equity indices: PX50 (Czech Republic), WIG 20 (Poland), BUX (Hungary), Tel Aviv 25 Index, Straits Times Index (Singapore), Taiwan SE Weighted Index, SET (Thailand), RTS-1 Interfax Index (Russia), BSE 30 (India), ISE National-30 (Istanbul), IGBVL (Peru), IPC (Mexico), IBB (Colombia), Merval (Argentina), Bovespa (Brazil), IPSA (Chile), Hang Seng (Hong Kong), Shanghai Composite, KLSE Composite (Kuala Lumpur), Seoul Composite (Korea), CMA (Egypt), JSE (South Africa)
For the purposes of comparison 20 companies were selected at random from the Dow Jones Industrials Average, FTSE 100, DAX, CAC 40, TSE 30 and Swiss Market Index. A questionnaire was e-mailed using the homepage website contact addresses for these companies, requesting that it be filled out by any of the following officers: chief executive, company secretary, finance director, shareholder relations executive.