Thabo Maake. ACMA. CGMA. MBA (original) (raw)

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Thesis Chapters by Thabo Maake. ACMA. CGMA. MBA

University of South Africa (UNISA), 2022

The study explores the impact of corporate governance and shareholder activism on listed entities... more The study explores the impact of corporate governance and shareholder activism on listed entities on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) in South Africa. The South African King Report on Corporate Governance (1994) underpins the principles with which companies are encouraged to apply. The principles of King Report on Corporate Governance were only introduced in South Africa under King 1 in 1994. These were new to the market and only gained traction after the collapse of some big corporations in the United States of America (USA) such as Enron and Arthur Andersen. Section 71 of the Companies Act 2008 of South Africa introduced the concept of Shareholder Activism as a mechanism to protect, facilitate and encourage shareholder activism and director accountability (Companies Act 71 of 2008).

The agency principle that arose when ownership and control of corporations were split gave rise to the idea of corporate governance. Owners (principals) no longer had authority over how businesses were run, thus that duty fell to the management of companies (Rossouw et al, 2002). Rossouw et al further contends that as a result, corporate governance was further established to make sure that owners' representatives oversee businesses in a way that benefits the company's shareholders (2002) Goncalves et al. (2020) describe shareholder activism as the significant and proactive engagement of institutional investors in a company's management, facilitated through strong corporate governance practices. This involvement allows these shareholders to shape a company's agenda, primarily safeguarding and advocating for the rights and interests of the institutional investors. Bouwman (2015) in her analysis, classifies activist shareholders into distinct categories, each with their unique approach and focus.

“The “theme-based activists” are investors in companies that comply with certain standards or promote a certain social agenda (for example, sustainability or ESG issues). They mostly voice their concerns or demands through publicity.

“Long-term institutional investors” (pension funds and insurance companies) invest for the long-term and are focused on long-term value (as opposed to short term returns). They raise their opinions on elements of corporate governance or strategy if they believe that it will affect long-term value.

“Active activists” who invest in companies if they believe the share value is lower than it should be. These more aggressive activists use their minority shareholding to promote change that increases value and then exit the investment”. Topical issues like employee diversity, the environment, and human rights were submitted to American businesses. Socially conscious shareholder activism is part of a larger strategy that challenges corporate behavior on organizations (SMOs) frequently contribute. These SMOs are becoming more involved in influencing business and governmental objectives (Hadani, et al., 2019).

Regent Business School, 2019

This dissertation thesis is a culmination of a lived (through professional work) phenomenon by th... more This dissertation thesis is a culmination of a lived (through professional work) phenomenon by the researcher during his tenure as the City of EMalahleni’s (Witbank) Chief Financial Officer (CFO) managing a budget in excess of R2 Billion, about the impact of energy or electricity supply crisis on organisational performance on the City. The aim of the study was mainly to investigate the causes of illegal connections in the electricity infrastructure, culture of non-payment towards electricity supplied, its impact on revenue collection and organisational performance.

This dissertation thesis is a qualitative research under the phenomenology philosophy or paradigm. Under this qualitative research, a non probability sampling technique (i.e. Convenience Sampling) was applied to select the respondents (sample) in order to gather the findings of the primary research. A total of twenty (20) balanced and inclusive sample was selected and utilised to gather the primary findings in the research.
The research revealed important findings that face the City and require urgent attention to resolve them. Key amongst them includes the following; lack of SMART Metering technology, lack of physical security towards technical infrastructure which leads to huge distribution losses, the impact of unemployment leading to illegal connections, poor monitoring of Eskom’s NMD requirements resulting in huge financial loss to the City, unstable leadership, inadequate investment in technical infrastructure, political interference in revenue collection initiatives, poor management of financial resources and lack of effective preventative maintenance strategies.

The research recommends an overall improvement in the governance regime of the City in order to deal with modern day challenges of business, a coordinated effort by organised local government in bringing about changes or amendments to the Electricity Act (EA) through National Parliament in order to change the manner in which affordable natural based energy can be independently generated by Cities and supplied to their local communities at affordable rates than what is currently being charged by the State monopoly, Eskom. It further recommends improvement in the implementation of by-laws, closer cooperation with the local law enforcement agencies in dealing with criminality where sabotage of energy infrastructure is reported, appointment of qualified personnel in all positions of the City, clean governance and investment in modern technologies as an internal control measure in dealing with system lapses.

University of South Africa (UNISA), 2022

The study explores the impact of corporate governance and shareholder activism on listed entities... more The study explores the impact of corporate governance and shareholder activism on listed entities on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) in South Africa. The South African King Report on Corporate Governance (1994) underpins the principles with which companies are encouraged to apply. The principles of King Report on Corporate Governance were only introduced in South Africa under King 1 in 1994. These were new to the market and only gained traction after the collapse of some big corporations in the United States of America (USA) such as Enron and Arthur Andersen. Section 71 of the Companies Act 2008 of South Africa introduced the concept of Shareholder Activism as a mechanism to protect, facilitate and encourage shareholder activism and director accountability (Companies Act 71 of 2008).

The agency principle that arose when ownership and control of corporations were split gave rise to the idea of corporate governance. Owners (principals) no longer had authority over how businesses were run, thus that duty fell to the management of companies (Rossouw et al, 2002). Rossouw et al further contends that as a result, corporate governance was further established to make sure that owners' representatives oversee businesses in a way that benefits the company's shareholders (2002) Goncalves et al. (2020) describe shareholder activism as the significant and proactive engagement of institutional investors in a company's management, facilitated through strong corporate governance practices. This involvement allows these shareholders to shape a company's agenda, primarily safeguarding and advocating for the rights and interests of the institutional investors. Bouwman (2015) in her analysis, classifies activist shareholders into distinct categories, each with their unique approach and focus.

“The “theme-based activists” are investors in companies that comply with certain standards or promote a certain social agenda (for example, sustainability or ESG issues). They mostly voice their concerns or demands through publicity.

“Long-term institutional investors” (pension funds and insurance companies) invest for the long-term and are focused on long-term value (as opposed to short term returns). They raise their opinions on elements of corporate governance or strategy if they believe that it will affect long-term value.

“Active activists” who invest in companies if they believe the share value is lower than it should be. These more aggressive activists use their minority shareholding to promote change that increases value and then exit the investment”. Topical issues like employee diversity, the environment, and human rights were submitted to American businesses. Socially conscious shareholder activism is part of a larger strategy that challenges corporate behavior on organizations (SMOs) frequently contribute. These SMOs are becoming more involved in influencing business and governmental objectives (Hadani, et al., 2019).

Regent Business School, 2019

This dissertation thesis is a culmination of a lived (through professional work) phenomenon by th... more This dissertation thesis is a culmination of a lived (through professional work) phenomenon by the researcher during his tenure as the City of EMalahleni’s (Witbank) Chief Financial Officer (CFO) managing a budget in excess of R2 Billion, about the impact of energy or electricity supply crisis on organisational performance on the City. The aim of the study was mainly to investigate the causes of illegal connections in the electricity infrastructure, culture of non-payment towards electricity supplied, its impact on revenue collection and organisational performance.

This dissertation thesis is a qualitative research under the phenomenology philosophy or paradigm. Under this qualitative research, a non probability sampling technique (i.e. Convenience Sampling) was applied to select the respondents (sample) in order to gather the findings of the primary research. A total of twenty (20) balanced and inclusive sample was selected and utilised to gather the primary findings in the research.
The research revealed important findings that face the City and require urgent attention to resolve them. Key amongst them includes the following; lack of SMART Metering technology, lack of physical security towards technical infrastructure which leads to huge distribution losses, the impact of unemployment leading to illegal connections, poor monitoring of Eskom’s NMD requirements resulting in huge financial loss to the City, unstable leadership, inadequate investment in technical infrastructure, political interference in revenue collection initiatives, poor management of financial resources and lack of effective preventative maintenance strategies.

The research recommends an overall improvement in the governance regime of the City in order to deal with modern day challenges of business, a coordinated effort by organised local government in bringing about changes or amendments to the Electricity Act (EA) through National Parliament in order to change the manner in which affordable natural based energy can be independently generated by Cities and supplied to their local communities at affordable rates than what is currently being charged by the State monopoly, Eskom. It further recommends improvement in the implementation of by-laws, closer cooperation with the local law enforcement agencies in dealing with criminality where sabotage of energy infrastructure is reported, appointment of qualified personnel in all positions of the City, clean governance and investment in modern technologies as an internal control measure in dealing with system lapses.