The practices and corporate governance frameworks: comparative evidence from south-eastern European countries

Strong corporate governance requires legal, regulatory, and structural frameworks to be relevant and efficient. Poor corporate governance mechanisms, a lack of knowledge of the importance of good corporate governance and, often, a poor institutional structure were major impediments to the growth of effective financial markets and establishment of a stable investment environment in South-Eastern European Countries (SEE). In this paper, we comparatively analyse corporate governance practices and their legal frameworks in SEE countries. The study results show, on the one hand, that Albania has the lowest scores in corporate governance practices and, on the other hand, that Croatia and Slovenia have the highest scores in these practices. Overall, corporate governance is a significant subject for organizations of all sizes and has drawn interest from policy, corporate executives, stakeholders, and academic researchers.